One of NCC Home Learning’s tutors has received the great honour of being asked to read some of her own poetry at a prestigious event.

One of NCC Home Learning’s tutors has received the great honour of being asked to read some of her own poetry at a prestigious event.

Sue Gerrard, who is a tutor for our Creative Writing course, read a selection of her poetry for the National Poetry Society in London on the 19^th September.

The event, held at the society’s Poetry Café in Covent Garden is a big honour for any poet to attend.

Her reading at the event will feature the poems, “Sam the Dog Who Can”, “Bunny Ruddington – Detective Extraordinaire”, “Mr Grumpity Grumps” and “The Chocolate Monster”.

Sue has been writing poetry since she was 11 and was at Parish Church Primary School, and prepared for the event by trialling some of her poems in front of children who currently attend the school.

Alongside tutoring for NCC, Sue works as the Poet in Residence at St. Helens College, and has had her work published in countless magazines and radio stations.

Alongside the six collections of poetry she has had published, she is also an author and has released two local history books, a collection of ghost stories and a spoken word cassette.

She has also co-written a musical called ‘The Child of Hale’, which toured the North West and featured at Cowley Arts Centre.

If you are interested in following in Sue’s footsteps, why not take a look at our Creative Writing diploma?

Whether you are funding your own company, or will be using the plan to attract potential backers, having a well-defined plan will make the difference in the early days.

Before launching any new start-up business, it is important to have a plan of action. Business plans, while they may seem difficult to write, are vital as they allow you to document crucial information about your product, market and competitors. Whether you are funding your own company, or will be using the plan to attract potential backers, having a well-defined plan will make the difference in the early days. Below are three handy tips to help you compile the perfect plan:

1: Split it

A business plan can often include pages upon pages of information about a proposed idea. While you may wish to be as detailed as physically possible to demonstrate different aspects of your idea, this can be confusing. Whether you are showing the plan to a potential backer, or just using it yourself to keep your business on-track, it is important for the plan to be easy to read and organised.

This means that it could be worthwhile splitting your plan into different sections. One simple way of doing this is to use these three headings:

– Research

– Planning

– Aims

Three different sections may not seem like much, however just by narrowing your business plan down to three specific areas, it becomes much easier to read and understand. You can then work on splitting these three sections into further subheadings, and as the more your plan goes, the more organised and professional it will appear.

2: Consider new methods

The internet is constantly updating, and due to this there are new platforms to advertise your product available each day. While traditional small business advertising was done locally via flyers and adverts, with social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, advertising on a mass scale became free. Most businesses now have social media accounts and social media websites are using this to their advantage: such as Facebook only showing posts to a small percentage of followers unless a paid advert is ‘boosted’.

Start-up companies often have a limited budget, and struggle to find enough funding to get their brand recognised. However there are other mediums which any small business should consider, rather than sticking to the ‘big two’ of social media. Apps such as Snapchat, which have a huge following in the younger market, are now being used for companies to send advertising directly to the pockets of their potential markets. Similarly, fashion and clothing brands are jumping to use Instagram, which can be used to market their clothes to a waiting audience.

3: Update it

Whilst writing your plan before launching your business, you will be working on assumptions regarding different aspects of business. Whilst you can and should carry out lots of research into your target market, financial plans and competitors, you may find that your actual results differ wildly from what you first imagined.

There is no point sticking to your guns and hoping for the best in business, if a method which you fully researched isn’t working for you then it is time to review your business plan and make changes. Keeping your plan up-to-date by recording instances which differ from your initial predictions, whether successful or not, helps to keep your plan relevant to your business.

With the concentration and patience required for long-reads and highlighting any mistakes or inaccuracies in copy, proof readers are zen-like masters of the English language.

With the concentration and patience required for long-reads and highlighting any mistakes or inaccuracies in copy, proof readers are zen-like masters of the English language. Needless to say, it’s a great skill to have and is ideal for people with an excellent attention to detail, intricate understanding of grammar, and a keen eye for picking up on any grammatical mistakes.

There are a few tips to becoming an ace proof reader, so below we’ve given six of the best:

No Distractions

If you’re going to be proof reading and correcting on-screen then disconnect from the internet, hide your mobile phone, turn off the TV, and close the door. If you still don’t trust yourself not to get distracted, it’s a good idea to print your document off and go to a library or similar environment.

Don’t Read – Analyse

Ignore the content, ignore the story, and don’t read like you’re a fan. You should be analysing each sentence word by word in a scientific manner.

Read and Re-read For Clarity

Read sentences a number of times for a variety of different issues – check spelling and punctuation on one read-through of a sentence, then read it again to check grammar. Developing a methodical system of editing will lead to a more thorough proofing.

Keep a Notepad Handy

If you need to look a word up, check a date, or research a quote then make a quick note of the page number and come back to it later on. Stopping to research the issue there and then will lead to a loss of focus and throw you off your game.

Be Familiar With Frequent Mistakes

Every writer makes common mistakes the longer they’ve been writing a peace of work. Weather its mixing up their and there, too and to, or misplacing apostrophes, any writer switches off after a while and it’s up to the proof reader to be familiar with them and have an eagle eye for these mistakes. Did you spot the ones I just made?

Don’t Rely On Spell-check

If you’re proof reading on a computer, don’t overly rely on spell-check. While it can correct standard and accidental misspells, there are other spellings it will just assume are right. To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer, as the old saying goes.

If you’re an avid reader you might have a great sense of how a sentence should look, but without an understanding of basic grammar and punctuation rules then attempts at proof reading might fall a little flat. By attaining a recognised diploma you can refine your base skills and gain the qualification to start proof reading professionally.

Everyone’s had a nail nightmare – correct them with these 8 life hacks!

Whether you get your nails done by a professional, or you choose to pamper yourself at home, at one time or another you will have encountered one of the following problems.

If your nails are constantly breaking, or if you find it difficult to paint your nails neatly, the infographic below will help you to solve all nail crisis that you may encounter.

If you are interested in becoming a nail technician, and learning techniques and methods on proper nail application, why not take a look at our range of nail courses?

The next two weeks play host to British Food Fortnight, a celebration of all produce from the United Kingdom.

The next two weeks play host to British Food Fortnight, a celebration of all produce from the United Kingdom.

British Food Fortnight was created in 2002, following the Foot and Mouth crisis. Many people were suspicious of meat that was raised in Britain, as they were afraid of catching the disease. The two weeks of celebrating local British produce were created as a means to promote the benefits of buying British.

We took a poll in the office to determine which British foods we all enjoyed, find the 8 most popular below…

1. Bangers and Mash

Otherwise known as sausage and mash, bangers and mash is an old favourite that is just as likely to be served on the dinner table as it is on a pub menu.  Eaten as early as 1919, sausages are known as bangers due to their tendency to pop when placed under a high heat, back when they were made with a high water content. Luckily, these days the sausages we eat are of a much better quality, and will rarely go ‘bang’, however the name has stuck!

2. Pie

Steak and kidney, chicken and leek, meat and potato: pies come in a massive variety of flavours, and everyone has their favourite. The first reference to pies as food was back in the 1100’s, when they were called ‘pyes’. You may have sung the nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ when you were younger, and while the line ‘four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie’ sounds like a meal made up specifically for a children’s tale, it is in fact true. In the olden days, it was common for Kings to eat song birds such as peacocks in pies, and blackbirds were also a common filling.

3. Trifle

This much loved dessert, normally spotted at family parties and at Christmas dinners, can be made in many different ways, with many different flavours. Some prefer a plain fruit flavour, such as orange or cherry, whilst others prefer a more adult trifle, and choose to flavour theirs with alcoholic drinks such as sherry. Trifle can be dated as far back as 1587, where a pudding of flavoured cream was referred to as trifle, however throughout the years it has evolved, adding jelly, fruits and sponge cake to make the dessert known today.

4. Roast Dinner

Every Sunday, families all over the country sit down around the table to eat a Sunday roast together. The meal normally consists of a roasted meet such as beef, lamb or chicken, along with potatoes and vegetables. Some people have accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding or stuffing, with most people pouring gravy on. There are differing opinions on where the Sunday roast originated from, some people claim it heralds from churchgoers in Yorkshire, who would put meat in the oven before leaving for church – allowing it to cook while they were out. Others claim that it dates back even further, to medieval times, when village serfs were rewarded every Sunday with a feast of oxen.

5. Scouse

It is thought that Scouse, a type of stew made from beef or lamb, comes from the term ‘lobscouse’, which was a simple stew made by nineteenth century sailors. The introduced the dish to the port of Liverpool, boiling meat, onions and pepper with a type of cracker carried on their ships. After being adopted by the people of Liverpool, the dish evolved into something similar to a Lancashire hotpot, with potatoes and vegetables added to the pot. In Liverpool, the disk is often served with pickled beetroot and bread.

6. Egg & Chips

Said to be the favourite food of John Lennon, a firm British favourite comfort food is egg and chips. Although originally considered a dish for the working class, due to it being cheap and easy to cook, people all over the country enjoy the dish regularly. It is considered a very British dish, with the World-Cup winners in 1966 stopping to get a plate of egg and chips, after growing tired of the fancy foods they were being served. Even top chefs agree, with Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal commenting: “You can’t get much more British a dish than fried egg and chips.”

7. Strawberries and Cream

First developed as a dessert during the rule of King Henry VIII, strawberries and cream is a simple, but crowd-pleasing, dish. Although the dessert has been around for centuries, it is most well-known for being one of the traditions at the annual tennis tournament, Wimbledon. At the 2014 tournament, 142,000 portions of strawberries were sold, which totals 28,000kg of strawberries and 7,000 litres of cream!

8. Fry Up

A fry up, also known as a Full Breakfast, is a staple hangover breakfast for many. Although it is called a breakfast, it is acceptable to eat this meal at any time of the day, with pubs and restaurants serving it as an ‘All Day Breakfast’. With different variations in different areas, there are individual breakfasts in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales! The usual staples are bacon, egg, sausage, beans and toast, however different types of fry up can feature foods such as black pudding, fried bread, fried onions and hash browns.

If you are interested in cooking and want to keep it as safe as possible, why not take a look at our Food Hygiene course?

Deep into its 12th series, BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? – which follows celebrities as they discover their own family secrets

Genealogy has long been an area of fascination for a large percentage of the population, with people delving into official records, censuses, and family archives to discover riveting stories of intrigue, deception, murder, and love, that would make any Hollywood producer jealous.

Deep into its 12^th series, BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? – which follows celebrities as they discover their own family secrets –  has shown that the history of some of the most loved and influential celebrities hasn’t always been one of glitz and glamour. Below we look at some of the interesting and heart-breaking revelations behind the success stories we see on screen:

Alan Cumming discovers the truth behind his grandfather’s death

The Scottish actor, famous for his roles in GoldenEye, X-Men 2, and Emma, had long believed that his grandfather, Thomas Darling, had been killed while cleaning his gun. However, as Cumming delved deeper into his family history, he was shocked to discover that his career-solider grandfather had actually died while playing Russian roulette!

Jerry Springer discovers that not everyone escaped the Nazi’s

The famed originator of car-crash talk-shows was born at Highgate railway station in London while it was being used as a shelter from German bombing during the Second World War. As a result, in adulthood he had long known that his Jewish parents had escaped from Nazi Germany just three days prior to the official declaration of war. It was while delving deeper into this area of family history on the show that he found out that his grandmothers hadn’t been so fortunate – one died in a Prague ghetto while the other was killed in an extermination camp in Poland.

Lesley Garrett discovers the truth behind a family secret

The truth behind Lesley Garrett’s great-great-grandfather had long been a family secret, hidden from everyone from her father on down, and while delving into her family history on the show, the soprano singer and CBE finally discovered the truth behind the sorry tale. Charles Garrett had been a butcher and farmer in Thorne, South Yorkshire, and all fingers pointed to the fact he had killed his wife using carbolic acid. While a coroner’s report recorded a verdict of accidental death due to a mix-up of medication, the remaining family suspected foul play and cut off all contact with Charles.

Patsy Kensit discovers how far into her roots criminality goes

It has long been known that Patsy’s father, Jimmy Kensit, was an integral part of the Kray gang in the 60s, so when Patsy began her genealogy investigation it was with certain apprehension. Looking into the murky past, Patsy analysed her father’s criminal record while also discovering her grandfather had been a prolific criminal too, but as a relief to her she discovered that was as far back as the criminal influence went – her great-grandfather had been a walking stick maker and an ancestor further back had been a vicar who had dedicated himself to assisting the poor.

Jeremy Paxman discovers hardship and poverty

While we’re used to seeing Paxman grilling politicians in his Newsnight days and demeaning students on University Challenge, Who Do You Think You Are showed us a different side to the presenter. In delving into his family history, Paxman discovered that his great-grandmother had been left penniless to raise 11 children by herself in a one-room flat in Glasgow. What makes this situation more heart-breaking is that she had been denied her husband’s army pension after he died from kidney disease, and she was also turned down for poor relief after an anonymous letter said she had birthed an illegitimate child. The hardships faced by his great-grandmother reduced an angry Paxman to tears.

Matthew Pinsent is Tudor Royalty

The Olympic gold medallist and sports broadcaster had a colourful and tragic family history, featuring the death of three great uncles in the First World War and ties to the opium trade via a Shanghai firm. But as Pinsent traced his genealogy further and further back his family appeared to grow in stature, culminating in the discovery that he was related to Lord William Howard, the uncle of Catherine Howard AKA the fifth wife of Henry VIII.

Natasha Kaplinsky discovers her father’s courage

The former newsreader and inaugural winner of Strictly Come Dancing had long known that her father, Raphael, had grown up in South Africa and had been forced to leave on 24 hours notice but had never found out what the true story behind his exile. Travelling to Cape Town University, Kaplinsky discovered through letters and newspapers that her father had led demonstrations in support of a black lecturer at the university and had been marked for death by apartheid forces as a result.

Is your story as interesting as these examples? Genealogy is growing in popularity as a hobby, and our diploma can provide you with all the tools to delve into your ancestry. Find out what secrets your family history holds by signing up today.

With over 240,000 Teaching Assistants working in the UK today, many people across the country are celebrating National Teaching Assistant Day today! An overwhelming 96% of headteachers believe that a Teaching Assistant is an asset to their school, and schools throughout the UK are joining in to celebrate.

We are joining in with the celebrations by offering a massive 35% off our popular Teaching Assistant Diploma. This means that it is only £220, as opposed to the normal price of £340!

Could you be a teaching assistant?

Teaching assistants work to support the development of children in the classroom, helping the teacher with issues such as one-to-one tuition for a specific child or helping smaller groups of children with different tasks. They are helpful in classrooms that include children with a learning disability, as they can help a particular child to work at a similar level to other children in the class. There are a wide range of terms for a teaching assistant, you may be more familiar with the term classroom assistant or learning support assistant.

Depending on the level of the children you are supporting, you may be asked to complete a varied list of tasks. If you choose to work with younger children, you are more likely to be asked to help children with arts and crafts, complete displays, or work with small groups of children who are struggling with a particular topic such as reading, writing or mathematics. If you choose to work with older children, for example in a high school, it is more common for a teaching assistant to work with one single student who is struggling. This could entail giving support in each classroom with different learning matters, or if they have a physical issue they may require assistance in getting around the school itself.

If the above description sounds appealing, why not take a look at the Level 3 Teaching Assistant Diploma that we offer? It can help people who are looking to find work as a learning support assistant throughout the different age ranges, and can also be helpful for those currently working in a school to gain qualified status.

You may not have been in school for some time, or may not believe you have the grades required to work in a school, however our Level 3 course does not require any previous qualifications! The main thing is that you are enthusiastic about working with children to aid their progression through their education. You should also have a patient nature, and be able to get along well with a wide range of ages, as it is imperative that you form good relationships with students, teachers and parents alike. You might encounter some difficult behaviour from students whilst working as a teaching assistant, so it is vital that you are able to keep a level head and be able to disperse a difficult situation.

As you will be helping children with their education, it is important that you have a good grasp of spoken and written English skills, along with a good understanding of mathematics at the level you wish to assist with, even if you don’t hold formal qualifications. You may benefit if you hold an additional skill, such as a talent at music or different languages, as these topics are now on the curriculum in schools. Having a skill such as this will make you more attractive to future potential employers.

If you are interested in this course, but wish to make sure that it is the right way of studying for you, why not take a look at our free sample module? You can have access to module 7 of the course: “Supporting a Child with Disabilities or Special Educational Needs”, for an entire month, to give you an idea of the type of learning, assignments and work you would be required to complete to become qualified. To access this, click on the button below!

Register Now

If you have just launched a brand new start-up business, you may feel as though you need an all-singing, all-dancing website, with exciting features, bright colours and lots of images.

If you have just launched a brand new start-up business, you may feel as though you need an all-singing, all-dancing website, with exciting features, bright colours and lots of images. However, unless you are a gifted web developer, a website of this calibre is going to massively eat into your start-up budget. Below are some tips on how to create a website that promotes your brand, whilst attracting and engaging potential customers.

Speed

G-Design found that an important element of a successful website is its loading speed. They found that users expect a website to load in two seconds, and 40% of people will abandon the attempt after three seconds. You may know yourself, if a website isn’t loading instantly then you will click the back button to find another site to get your information from. While two seconds may seem very speedy in relation to everyday life, this can seem like a lifetime in terms of a website loading speed. Try not to include too many images, elements that require Flash Shockwave Player or embedded videos.

Contact Information

How frustrating is it when after browsing a website for a considerable time, you find that you have a couple of questions you would like to ask before you buy? You search the website for contact details for the company, only to draw a blank. As obvious as it may seem, some people do still make the error of not making their contact information easily accessible, meaning that they could be missing out on future sales. Make sure that you are easily contactable by potential customers – display your contact information plainly on a page that is easily found, and even consider putting some details, such as email address and phone number, on every page.

Text

You need to strike a fine balance when creating an interesting website. Whilst you need to use enough text to describe your business and your products, you do not want to run the risk of boring people! Make sure that information on your site details all the necessary information, but keep sentences brief. Ensure that you use interesting language, and consider breaking large chunks of text into separate sections with their own headers. When listing the details of a product, consider using bullet points to show the information clearly.

Personality

The websites of many big businesses often have a corporate look and feel to them, as they are attempting to appeal to a mass market. Being an established brand, they do not have to try and win their customer over, as they will most likely already have a strong client base. With a small start-up business, you may be starting from scratch, meaning that you have to prove to your customers why they should use your company. Here is where you can use being a small business to your advantage, as you can use your website to introduce yourself and any staff members you have working for you. This allows you to show that your company will award clients with a more personal touch than some of your big competitors.

Images

If you are selling products on your website, it is important that you display them in the most attractive ways possible. Taking dark, unfocused or even blurry pictures does not showcase your product well, and will not help you to sell any! Make sure that all pictures taken are on a light, clean background, are well lit and are in focus. Also make sure that your images are large enough to see clearly, no-one wants to have to squint to find out what your product actually is. Multiple images are helpful to people who wish to buy a product, but don’t go overboard! Make sure to take enough pictures to cover all viewpoints of necessary products, but you don’t require 300 pictures of the same product in the same position. Not only is this annoying for the website user, it also works to slow your website loading time down.

If you master all of the above, your website should look more professional, and be more appealing to customers. Below is a quick check-list of 5 more things you should definitely avoid, in order to keep those browsing your website happy!

5 things to avoid:

Pop-up windows: everybody hates irrelevant pop-ups interrupt their website browsing, and trying to hunt down the ‘x’ key to close them.

Music: Most people have had the shock of un-knowingly being subjected to music on a website that you’ve just clicked on. Steer clear of automatically playing music, if you must have music at all make sure that you have the option to turn it off quickly and easily.

Too much colour: Stick to a simple colour scheme, using a whole rainbow of colours makes a website annoying and difficult to read.

Terrible spelling: Lots of typos and errors in grammar can make a website look unprofessional, and put users off trying to read information.

Unreadable font: Make sure that you use a clear font, which is accessible across all platforms and browsers. Alongside making sure that the font is legible, make sure that it is a size that is easily read, normally between 9 and 12 pt.

Mediation is a specific skill that is becoming more and more relevant in today’s modern environment.

Mediation is a specific skill that is becoming more and more relevant in today’s modern environment. From assisting people in how they communicate to achieving mutually beneficial resolutions to trying issues, a skilled and practiced mediator can be the ace in the hole for many resolutions.

Below, we look at what some of the benefits of offering mediation are and how the skills learned come in handy to them:

Creative Approach

Going to court to settle an issue can seem very rigid and confrontational, and mediation allows for a much more flexible approach to dealing with issues. This allows the mediator to develop a range of solutions which are mutually beneficial for everyone involved without the risk that you will be legally bound those decisions.

Speed

When used early in a dispute, a beneficial agreement can be reached much quicker than if the matter is to be pursued through the legal system. An impartial mediator can aid negotiations and work towards a settlement that is quick and right for everyone involved.

Cost

Whereas there is a fee for mediation, the process can be less time-intensive and costly than going to court. This will allow you to reduce the amount of work and the costs that are inherent in pursuing an issue through the court process.

Support

Mediators are trained to work in difficult, tense and challenging situations. By acting as a neutral voice of reason they can guide both sides through the mediation process, allowing them to propose alternative solutions that will broaden the range of outcomes and suit everyone involved.

Communication

By opening up the channels of communication between the affected parties, it encourages them to work together to find a solution rather than battling against each other via solicitors. This can lead to the smoothing over of any issues allowing you to communicate clearly and effectively, something that is especially important if the mediation process involves children.

Teamwork

When both sides agree to use mediation, it shows a deep-rooted belief that they are prepared to work together towards coming up with a solution and no form of ill-will is concrete. With each party open to understanding the other sides views, it allows them to work together to settle disputes and a positive or cordial relationship is likely to be forged after the mediation process is over due to the fact they have essentially worked together to achieve an outcome.

Control

With mediation, alternative solutions can be proposed and considered which the parties may not have thought of or that would not be possible by pursuing the matter in court. With mediation, the outcome is always in the hands of the sides of the argument – they directly negotiate their own agreements and no settlement can be actively imposed, whereas by pursuing the matter through the court a judge would impose a legal settlement and resolution on the issue.

With Queen Elizabeth II overtaking the record for longest-reigning British monarch, we investigate what other British institutions have reigned as long.

At approximately 5.30pm tonight, Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest reigning British monarch, overtaking the current record set by her great-great grandmother. The record currently stands at 63 years and 216 days, or 22,226 total days, and is held by Queen Victoria, who reigned between the years of 1837 and 1901. With the current retirement age standing at 66, the Queen, now aged 89, is still working; even today, the day that marks her record-breaking achievement.

Below, we take a look at what else started its working life in 1952: the year that Queen Elizabeth took to the throne.

Named by Guinness World Records as the longest running children’s television programme, the character Sooty first came to prominence in the year of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, on the programme Saturday Special. His yellow fur and cheeky persona captured the children of Britain, even though they would never hear him talk! Since his first appearance, there have been a large number of programmes based around Sooty, and over the years he gained new friends, such as Sweep and Soo. Created by Harry Corbett, who bought the puppet from Blackpool for his son, Sooty is still appearing on television today, with a series currently airing on CITV.

The University of Southampton

Although it first opened and began accepting students in 1862, under the name of the Hartley Institution, the University of Southampton was not eligible to award its own degrees. Instead, all degrees earned whilst at the university were awarded under the name of the University of London. This changed when Queen Elizabeth awarded her first Royal Charter to the university in the same year as her coronation, making it the first post-war university to be created. The university then created six different faculties, and were able to award their first degrees from July 1953.

Commercial Air Travel

Although these days getting on an airplane to travel all over the world is considered normal, just over 60 years ago this was not something that everyone was able to do. Trips to other countries would be extremely rare for most people, and those that did go abroad would have to travel via boat. This was all set to change however, as in 1952 the de Havilland Comet made its first flight between London and Johannesburg, making it the world’s first jet airliner. It carried passengers who had paid a fare to be on board, and its scheduling paved the way for modern airport timetables.

Paid Prescriptions

When the NHS was conceived in 1948, it revolutionised health care in the United Kingdom, bringing a good quality of healthcare to all UK residents. It brought together hospitals, doctors, nurses, opticians and dentists together with pharmacists to provide free health services. Initially, prescriptions were free, however in 1952 a charge of one shilling, which equates to about 5p today, were introduced due to the high costs the NHS were faced with. This fee was abolished in 1965, however it had to be reinstated just three years later due to massive costs. The fees did not increase much until 1982, when the prices started increasing by around 20p each year. Today the fee stands at £8.20 per item – who wishes we were still paying 5p?

End of the Tea Ration

It’s the staple drink for a large proportion of British people, we’ve even referenced being a brew drinker as a way of knowing you’re British in a previous blog! However between 1939 and 1952, the popular drink was rationed for citizens of Great Britain. Thttps://www.ncchomelearning.co.uk/blog/top-10-reasons-you-know-youre-british/his was due to the Second World War, and it wasn’t just tea that was on ration – the supply of everything from bacon to biscuits was controlled. Clothing and material was also rationed, and royalty was no exception to these rules. Well-wishers ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding to Prince Philip sending their ration coupons for material to make her dress, however she did return them all. During the tea ration, one adult was only allowed to purchase 2 ounces a week – a stark contrast to figures from 2012 which show that the UK drink a total of 165 million cups per day!

UK Singles Chart

Before 1952, the popularity of a song was determined by how many sheets of music it had sold. This all changed a few months after Elizabeth became Queen, as the New Musical Express (NME) decided to start ranking songs based on how many copies of records had sold each week. Initially, 52 record stores across the country began reporting their sales figures on a weekly basis, a small number compared to the 6,500 shops who contribute their totals today. Throughout the years, there have been an estimated 1,200 number one singles, and people still tune in weekly to listen to the charts.