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Ahead of Her Majesty The Queen’s Funeral, a new photograph has been released.
It was taken this year to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, as she became the first British Monarch to reach this milestone.
Westminster Hall
Westminster Hall is the oldest building in Parliament and almost the only part of the ancient Palace of Westminster which survives in almost its original form. The Palace of Westminster, informally known as the Houses of Parliament, serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords of the United Kingdom.
Westminster Hall was built in 1097 under William II, the son of William the Conqueror, and was completed two years later.
He had conceived the project to impress his new subjects with his power and the majesty of his authority. The Hall was indeed by far the largest hall in England, and probably in Europe at that time.
George IV’s coronation banquet was held in Westminster Hall in 1821, the last of its kind; no such banquet has been held since.
Closely involved in the life of the nation since the 11th century, a journey through the Hall’s past is a journey through 900 fascinating years of history. Westminster Hall has been used for a fascinating variety of ceremonies and events since its construction in 1097.
The Lying-in-State of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall.
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The story of Paddington Bear …
Michael Bond based Paddington Bear on a lone teddy bear that he noticed on a shelf in a London shop near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. He was inspired by the sight, during World War II, of Jewish refugee children from Europe arriving in Britain and of London children being evacuated to the countryside, the evacuees bearing labels perhaps similar to that attached to the bear Paddington “Please look after this bear”.
The bear inspired Bond to write a story and in ten days, he had written the first book. The book was given to his agent, Harvey Unna. A Bear Called Paddington was first published on 13 October 1958 by William Collins & Sons.
One of the last times most of us saw the Queen and Paddington Bear close up was when she did a marvellous televised sketch during the Jubilee celebrations.
Long distance delivery. It could be the world’s longest milk run.
Premature baby Levi had a ‘challenging’ start to life, with his mum’s breastmilk travelling 4,000km to help him. When severely premature baby Levi Atkinson was airlifted from Darwin to Brisbane to receive specialist care at the Mater Mothers’ Hospital, litres of his mum’s precious frozen breastmilk stayed behind.
Wanting to give Levi the best start in life possible, the Mater launched a mission to bring about 150 bottles of Ms Wain’s breastmilk, stored in a freezer in her Darwin home, to Brisbane. On Tuesday, after a 24-hour, 4,200-kilometre journey from Darwin via Adelaide, a large icebox containing Ms Wain’s breastmilk arrived at the Brisbane hospital for Levi, who was born weighing just 740 grams.
Mater director of neonatology Pita Birth said, “That early breastmilk has got a lot of really important properties in it. He needs that milk to help his gut develop and help his gut stay healthy, help him grow and get the immune benefits.”
The outback community of Winton has helped a family find their beloved dog lost on road trip 2,000km from home.
While Deborah and Geoff Inskip were visiting a tourist attraction in Winton, their beloved boxer, Maggie, who was being cared for, detached from her collar, and ran off. In a harsh landscape home to wild dogs, 1080 baiting and deadly snakes, the risks to a lost dog are high.
But then calls from the local community with reported sightings of Maggie and footprints came in. For days, sightings by the Winton community, population 1,000, kept hope alive. The couple were prepared to stay in Winton searching until at least the end of the month. But on day eight, dog prints were spotted near the town’s airport. A few hours later, Maggie was seen near the airstrip.
The couple rushed there and waited quietly until they saw the ears of their beloved boxer moving towards them.
Juliane Samara is an award-winning Australian nurse practitioner who specialises in oncology and palliative aged care.
As Omicron emerged and was dubbed a “milder” version of the virus, Covid-19 restrictions in the general community began to ease. In December 2021 we were urged by the then prime minister Scott Morrison to “live with the virus”. The outbreaks in residential aged care facilities began to increase exponentially. The deaths of older people in aged care began to rise. Who noticed?
Life in 2022 (for those who don’t work in healthcare) has largely returned to normal, however Covid-19 outbreaks in residential aged care have been a constant reality. Across Australia, more than 3,000 people living in residential aged care have died with Covid-19 this year. This is three times more than in the first two years of the pandemic.
Where is the action from the government which promised us aged care reform? What advice are the chief health officers giving to national cabinet, and is it being followed?
Further to Sophie’s explanations …
From Fruit to Fame: The Evolution of the Apple Logo
In 1976 the job of creating the company’s first logo fell to Ronald Wayne, who decided to use Isaac Newton’s image sitting below a tree – the same Isaac Newton who discovered gravity when an apple fell out of a tree onto his head. After only a year, Steve Jobs announced the logo as “old-fashioned” and thought it was too challenging to use on a smaller scale so he hired Rob Janoff to create a new logo.
This article explains the reasons behind various changes since 1976.
Queen Elizabeth II’s bees informed of her death, as part of a long-standing beekeeping tradition.
One British colony received special correspondence about Queen Elizabeth II’s death last week – not from Buckingham Palace, but the Palace beekeeper John Chapple, 79 pictured right.
The superstitious tradition of ‘telling the bees’ of a death in the family has been part of rural British folklore for centuries. Whether it is a birth, death or marriage, the bees were to be told about all important events in their keeper’s lives. It was believed beekeepers had strong connections with the bees, so they deserved to be treated like family, and mourn them when they died.
Mr Chapple placed black ribbons tied into bows on the hives, home to tens of thousands of bees, before informing them that their mistress had died and that a new master would be in charge from now on.
According to tradition, in the event of a death, the bees were to be put into mourning. If the bees were not informed, or put into mourning, it was believed they might stop producing honey, sting their next keeper, or die.
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