Hello and welcome to The Week Junior Show.
I'm Bex and I'm joined by writers Joe and Eve from The Week Junior, the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds.
Now, in a week where people mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day and Sir David Attenborough celebrated his 99th birthday, we're going to be discussing some of the other stories, events and people that inspired and entertained The Week Junior team.
And make sure you're listening closely, because at the end of this episode we'll be asking a question about what you've heard.
And if you answer it correctly, you could win a prize.
But first, Jo and Eve, there is something I want to talk to you about.
Now, later on in the episode, we're going to be talking about a very wacky mascot race to raise money for charity.
So it got me thinking, what is the most unusual thing you've done to raise money for charity?
Eve, have you done anything pretty crazy and pretty out there?
I would say no.
I'm usually a much more basic fundraiser.
I'll do a bake sale or something like that.
But But I do seem to remember when we were at primary school, we did a school skip-a-thon.
We all had these skipping ropes that counted the number of skips you did.
And I think we all had to do 100 skips each.
And then all together it added up.
And I'm sure we did that to raise money for charity, which was fun.
Okay, I like this.
This is good, a school skip-a-thon.
Jo, how about you?
At university, a couple of friends and I did what's called a jailbreak, which is a challenge that involves traveling as far as possible without spending any money.
So what you have to do is you have to try and persuade people to let you travel for free on public transport and so on.
And we raised some money for charity before the challenge in order to take part.
During the actual jailbreak, we didn't get very far.
We traveled from Cardiff to London, which is where we were at uni.
And we ended up sleeping in St.
Pancras Station, in the hope that they'd let us on a Eurostar the next day, as it was pretty late when we arrived.
But we woke up in the morning.
They didn't let us on the Eurostar.
And I think we were just all rather exhausted by then.
So we gave up and were rather forlorn with our tails between our legs on the way back to Cardiff.
Still pretty impressive to get for free from Cardiff to London, I have to say.
Yeah, I was thinking that.
Yeah, we did well.
I mean, I think the winning group got to something like Tenerife.
It was somewhere quite exotic and abroad.
I don't know how on earth they did it.
We were very jealous, but there you go.
My friends did it at university and they, similar to yourself, sadly didn't get as far as they could have done, or wanted to, perhaps.
But it turns out the winning person, her dad was a pilot, so got her a free flight.
Oh, that's not fair.
That's not right.
Oh, you know what?
It was a moral victory for them and you, I think.
Now, my answer is actually leading on from last week, which is weird.
So I mentioned last week about my duck impression, which I'll do for you now in case we need to recap it.
Mow, mow, mow.
There you go.
You're welcome.
So when I was a kid, I was so desperate to raise money for comic relief.
I said I would speak like that all day.
I would quack my way through the Friday and I raised money for charity by only quacking like a duck.
So that's a pretty wacky thing, I think, to do, to raise money for charity.
It did work.
I raised some money.
I think you win.
Thank you.
I was proud of that at the time.
I don't think I raised a lot of money, but still, it's all worth it.
Now, we really want to hear about what you think of this.
So tell us about some charity fundraising efforts that you've been signed up to recently, or maybe what you think we should be doing at The Week Junior.
All you've got to do is email us.
Go to hello at theweekjunior.co.uk or leave a voice note. at funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Just grab a grown-up, look for that big red button and record your voice.
And if your voice note is played next week, you could win a Week Junior roving reporter badge.
Now, last week, we asked listeners to share their best animal impressions and we got loads.
So thank you so much to everybody for sending them in.
So we're going to play you a few of them now.
And of course, all of these people who we play out will get a lovely roving reporter badge.
So first up, we have Georgia.
So we have to guess what animal she's doing the impression of.
Here we go.
Hello, my name is Georgia and this is my impression.
Did you get it?
It was a lion.
That's amazing.
Georgia, that's incredible.
That came from nowhere.
That was...
How is she making those noises?
I know, I love it.
Like a real throaty kind of rumble.
It's kind of impressive for someone so young.
Yeah, I feel like there was actually a line with her and she was just pretending that it was her.
Okay, next up we've got Luke.
Hello, my name is Luke.
This is my impression.
That was an elephant's impression.
Oh my god, energy.
Keep that vibe up forever, please.
I love it, elephant.
I was gonna say a bird, i'm not gonna lie.
But then you said it and i was like yeah, it's the trunk, isn't it?
It's the?
Yeah, i understand that good elephant impression.
Guys, what do we think?
Yeah yeah, i mean, i think it's great.
Yeah, i was just imagining him doing the trunk.
I think i was with you, bex.
I kind of thought bird initially, like some kind of bird of paradise or exactly bird.
I was kind of thinking of the birded up.
I don't know why, but um, but yeah, when he said elephant at the end uh yeah, all came kind of spot on.
It all makes sense.
And finally, we've got one more voice note from amelie.
So uh, let's check it out.
Hello, i'm amelie and i'm hoping to be on this week's junior podcast.
Last week you mentioned that it was your birthday coming up.
Also, you did animal impressions, so i decided to put that together and do drumroll, please.
An animal impression of happy birthday to you.
This is basically my dog doing it, but my version.
My dog is a show Cocker Spaniel and he is golden.
This is for the week Junior's happy birthday and probably for Bex's enjoyment.
Okay, here goes.
I hope you enjoyed that.
Oh my God.
That was amazing.
That was brilliant.
I will never forget that.
Amelie, that was incredible.
Thank you so much.
You tied in the 10th birthday celebration from the week junior.
You tied in me, which I obviously loved.
First of all, you tied in a lovely dog impression that I did not see coming from anywhere.
And even included the hip hip hooray at the end of happy birthday as well.
Oh, my goodness.
You know, listeners can't see us right now, but we were all thrilled about that on the chat.
So thank you so much to Amelie, Luke and Georgia.
Three absolute heroes and legends.
So thank you for that.
And if you've been inspired to send us a voice note, it's very easy and very fun.
Just go to thunkidslive.com slash theweekjunior and tell us what you've been up to recently.
Tell us your favorite joke.
Tell us a little shout out you want to give.
Or, of course, a little animal impression.
Now I think we should turn our attention to this week's magazine, because I want to know what's been in the headlines this week.
Eve, what have you got for me?
So the story I've got this week is about the local elections which happened last week, on the 1st of May, around some areas of England.
So local elections are a bit different to general elections, like the general election we had last year.
So people were voting for councillors to take seats in 23 local councils around the country.
And the elected councillors would be in charge of managing local services in the area like education, housing and bin collections.
And there were also elections to choose six local mayors.
And there was a by-election as well, which happens when a member of parliament leaves their seat between general elections.
So a new MP needs to be chosen.
So there were 1637 council seats that had to be filled in England, and a party called Reform UK won 677 of them.
The Liberal Democrats won 370 seats and the Green Party won 79.
But the Conservative Party, who lost the general election last year, actually lost 674 council seats.
And the Labour Party, who are in charge of the country, lost 187 council seats as well.
So in the magazine you can read a little bit more about the Reform Party and who won the mayor elections as well.
But I think a very interesting part of the election that I wanted to talk about was the by-election that happened in Runcorn and Helsby.
So the two most popular candidates to be MP there were Karen Shaw from the Labour Party and Sarah Pochin from Reform UK.
And it was really interesting because it was actually a very, very tight result.
And the votes had to be counted twice because of how tight it was.
So both Reform and Labour had 387 of the vote, but Reform ended up winning because they had six more votes.
And I just thought that was crazy that it was just so close between the two candidates.
Yes, it does prove that every vote matters, you know.
Yeah, exactly.
Six votes is a really small one.
So, yeah, thank you, Eve, for explaining that because I didn't know all of those numbers.
So it's fascinating to see which way everything has swung to.
So I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Joe, what's another story that you've seen in the news this week?
So we've got a piece in the magazine about Ethel Caterham from Surrey in England.
Now, Ethel has become the oldest person in the world.
She's 115 and was born in 1909 during the reign of Edward VII.
She's lived through two world wars, six kings and queens and, according to Guinness World Records, is one of the oldest people to have survived, COVID having caught it when she was 110.
This is incredible.
Well done to Ethel.
What an achievement.
Yeah, yeah, it's fantastic to get to that age.
And just the numbers, sort of astonishing.
I think back... to kind of what year she was my age.
And it was like around 1940.
And she's lived all those years since then.
And just think of all the things she's seen, all the advancements in technology, how much the world has changed over the course of her lifetime.
It's just astonishing.
Yeah, she's absolutely truly lived through history, hasn't she?
Yeah.
Yeah, incredible stuff.
All right, so two big stories there.
Thanks very much, guys.
Thanks.
But, moving on, it's time.
For the moment, we've all and by we I mean definitely me have been waiting for.
It is my weekly test to work out if I can sniff out the truth.
So, Joe or Eve, tell me your story.
And I have to guess if it's fact or fake news.
And this week, Joe, I believe you've got this week's reel of rubbish.
Is that right?
I do indeed.
I do indeed.
And it's a story about pantomime and how schoolchildren will be able to study it as their GCSE from next year, after it was added to the curriculum by the UK government.
Of course, pupils can already study drama, but now they can do a whole course dedicated to panto.
Topics will include classic fairy tales, mime and comedy.
In the south of England.
The final exam will take place at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, where students will take to the stage dressed as dames and fairies and pantomime horses.
But Bex, is this story real?
And I'm really sorry for this.
Oh, yes, it is.
Or oh no, it isn't.
I apologize for that.
I'm thrilled about it.
Um, so you, is this a gcse subject?
Yes, a gcse subject yeah, okay.
So my question was going to be but surely drama exists?
Why could it not be part of the drama syllabus?
But you say that exists separately.
Is that right?
Yeah, it's separate.
Drama is very broad and this is kind of allowing people, i guess, not branching out because it's an element of drama, but to focus in on that very specific pantomime thing, and i haven't seen too many pantomimes over the course of my life, but i understand it's tends to be seen as quite a British thing, doesn't it?
So it's particularly appropriate having it as a course here.
It feels hyper-specific to have a pantomime GCSE, because I wouldn't have thought there was that much to learn about really.
Is there loads on this course then, do we think?
Yeah, I mean, I think, like I said, I see it almost as a very kind of British branch of drama and it's something that's steeped in history and tradition.
I mean my understanding.
I never did drama at school but I understand it's not just performance thing.
They learn about the history and various playwrights.
So it's broader than just getting up on stage and performing.
And there's a lot to learn about pantomime.
Like I said, it goes back a very long way.
And it's such a kind of specific thing that I feel is very unique to the UK, to Britain.
I feel like the demand for GCSE and pantomime isn't that high, apart from finding out about the origins of He's behind you.
Like how much more is there to learn?
I don't know.
But I do love a panto and I like the idea of learning about it.
And my friend is a pantomime dame actually.
So, you know, would be a good little side hustle for him to be able to teach pantomime.
But my main problem is, is that that much to learn is the issue I've got here.
And whether you're trying to trick me, whether it's just like A course on a wider syllabus, is my issue.
I don't trust you, Jo.
That's my problem here.
I don't trust you at all.
So while I'm thinking about that, it is time for our book of the week.
And we've got a message here from the author to tell us a little bit about it.
Hi, I'm Eve Vasotsky-Morris and my new book is Clem Fatel Has Been Betrayed a fast and funny adventure set in 1950s London about Clem Fatel, who is the daughter of a famous jewel thief and boss of the spider gang.
Jimmy Fatale.
The story begins at midnight.
The spider gang are on a job, out to pinch a famous diamond called the Fool's Canary.
But when Clem gets to the safe, she finds both the diamond and her dad have gone missing.
So Clem sets out into the mean streets of London town to talk to crooked criminals, investigate glamorous dance clubs and eat some excellent fry-up breakfasts as she tries to work out the mystery.
Clem takes with her a boy called Gilbert, who she accidentally kidnaps, in his pajamas, from the house they were trying to rob.
Gilbert doesn't go out much, but he's pleased as plum pudding to be on a jolly fine adventure, even if he has been kidnapped.
Clem and Gilbert form an unlikely friendship.
It's full of thrills and spills, twists and turns, high speed taxi chases, secret packages, a dangerous heist and a villain who goes to a fancy dress party dressed as a shark.
One of my favourite series is the Murder Most Unladylike series by Robin Stevens.
I love their style and characters and how they solve the mysteries of the end.
So if you like Murder Most Unladylike, I think you'll really like Clem Fatale's series too.
Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed is perfect for anyone who loves suspenseful mysteries, jolly fun, adventures and cream buns.
I've got to say, I love Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed.
I've read it.
It's a really fun kind of film noir type of book.
So if you want a chance to read it as well, you can win a copy of Clem Fatale Has Been Betrayed.
All you've got to do is stay with us until the end of the show and find out how you can enter our prize draw.
Now, while we were talking about that, we were joined by the Week Junior editor Laura, who looks after lots of pages in the magazine, including animals and environment.
So, Laura, tell us, hello, first of all, and what are you going to be talking to us about this week?
Hi, thanks for having me.
So this week, I was going to talk about our nature spy.
So that's a little section on the animals environment page where we pick out something that is kind of around at this time of year that you can spot.
This week, we've got the lovely sounding willow warbler. which is a tiny little bird.
And it arrives in the UK in springtime, so kind of March or April.
So it's been here for a while.
And it stays here until roughly the end of the summer.
So by sort of September time, they'll all have flown back to southern Africa.
And yeah, they're found all over the UK.
So you might find them in woods, in your garden, in the park, sort of grassy areas and places like that.
But unsurprisingly, the best place to spot a willow warbler hence its name is amongst willow trees, as well as birch and alder trees.
And all of these are kind of found around water.
So if you want to look out for a willow warbler, you'll need to look quite carefully, because they're easily mistaken for another bird called rather charmingly as well, a chiff chaff.
I love bird names.
Sorry, it's just me being whimsical.
Yeah, they both look quite similar.
So they've both got like a yellowy green sort of coloured breasts. and sort of a paler belly.
And then they've got like a light brown head.
And then they've got this kind of yellow green stripe above their eye.
But yeah, the main difference between the willow warbler and the chiff chaff is that the willow warbler has light, brown or pink legs and the chiff chaff has got black legs.
But the other main difference is their song.
So the willow warbler likes to sing and apparently shake their feathers around whilst they are searching for food.
And their song is described as melodic.
So it kind of goes from high to low, whereas a chiffchaff is like in short bursts, as if the bird is saying its name over and over again.
Maybe that's why it's called a chiffchaff.
I don't know.
Well, Laura, you know what I'm going to ask you next, don't you?
Of course, I want to hear an impression.
We've got animal impressions today.
I want to hear what these birds sound like, please.
Give me some more context.
I feel like this is going to be an ongoing thing.
Wow, I knew you were going to ask me that, Bec.
So I have been practicing and actually I was going to say I went for a walk the other day and I think I heard a chiff chaff not a willow warbler sadly, but yeah, it was kind of because the chiff chaff is more like it's kind of more like a cheap, like a chip chip, chip chip, like you know, like that.
But the Willow Wobbler, which I didn't hear and I was listening to it,
If you go on to I think it's the Woodland Trust, they've got little sound recordings that you can play and I was listening to it and it's more.
Yeah, it kind of goes from high to low.
So it's like, like that.
Very impressive.
Can we do that?
I'm not sure if that's right.
It's amazing, yeah.
Great, that sounds familiar.
I'm like yeah, next time I hear that sound I'll think I know what that is because of Laura the weak junior.
That's amazing.
Well, Laura, thank you for researching animal noises for us.
It's the theme of today's show, obviously.
And yeah, thank you for telling us all about that.
And if any listeners want to find out more, just check out the Animals and Environment page.
Thanks, Laura.
See you later.
Bye.
Bye.
Now it's time for this week's big debate.
And the question is, Is typing better than handwriting?
So Eve and Joe will be going head to head to take a side each on this argument.
But before we hear from them, here's some information for you.
It is thought that the Sumerians, that's ancient people from an area that is now in Iraq, developed the earliest writing system around 5000 years ago.
Handwriting can take a long time to perfect.
With the rise in computer and phone use, it's become less important.
Typing messages is now quite a popular way to communicate.
Handwriting and typing both require skills like coordination and concentration.
And some exam boards are now letting students decide whether they want to write or type their answers.
So is typing better than handwriting?
Joe is team handwriting.
Eve is team typing.
Each of them has 60 seconds to make their case.
And then, of course, I'll make up my mind as well of who swayed me more.
So, Joe, you are going to go first.
I'm going to get my little timer up here on the screen.
So whenever you're ready, take it away.
To start with, handwriting is a very individual thing.
Each person has their own handwriting style, which develops with help from family and teachers, but is unique to them.
And it'd be a shame to lose that, wouldn't it?
Handwriting is this kind of far more personal experience.
Have you guys ever received a handwritten message?
It makes you feel special and reminds you of the person who wrote it.
A typed message, just not the same.
It can be a nice experience for the person sending the message too, as practicing handwriting can be fun.
Plus.
Studies have shown that handwriting can actually help people process information and remember it.
On the other hand, staring at a screen, which you do when you're typing, can affect your eye health.
So for me, handwriting is the winner.
Excellent stuff.
Lots of good reasons there.
So, Eve, can you persuade me in the other direction, please?
Whenever you're ready, you give me your best argument.
OK, so, well, firstly, you know, Joe and I write the stories for The Week Junior.
And I just think, imagine how you wouldn't be getting a magazine every week if we had to hand write all those stories.
Typing is so much quicker than writing by hand.
And if you make a mistake, you can fix it really quickly by deleting what you've typed.
Whereas if you make a mistake when you're writing, it can be quite messy.
And typing has really useful tools like spell check.
This is really useful for lots of people, including those with dyslexia.
And typing also has the benefit that you can really easily share what you've written with lots of people.
You can send it or email it or print lots of copies to share with people.
Yeah, that's not easily done with handwriting.
You'd have to write loads of copies and then post them by hand.
And that would just take ages.
In an age of technology, that's ridiculous.
And I just also think that typing makes work so much neater.
You don't really have to worry about your pen smudging or your hand cramping or people not understanding what you've written.
So typing is better.
Okay.
Two excellent debates there.
This is a really tricky one because obviously for me, I guess it would depend on the situation.
But I think there's something about handwriting, something like it feels more personal, and I think it's becoming a lost art.
And I do worry sometimes that my, my handwriting has gone downhill because I just don't type.
I don't use it as much anymore, I just type all the time and um yeah, I do like the idea of like personally writing something.
It shows it's from the heart.
But having said that Eve yeah, I mean, if you guys had to handwrite every issue of the week junior, that that would be a little bit tricky, wouldn't it?
Luckily for me, it's not about my opinions, it's about what the readers and the listeners think.
So if you've got a big verdict on this week's debate, you can get involved.
You can vote online at theweekjuniorcouk slash polls.
You can also email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjuniorcouk or send us a voice note.
We love them.
Just go to funkidslivecom slash theweekjunior, scroll down until you see that big red button and grab a grown-up and record your voice Now.
Last week's big debate was about whether schools should remove mirrors from bathrooms.
So, Joe, what did the Week Junior listeners and readers vote?
So 88%, a huge majority, said no, schools shouldn't remove mirrors from bathrooms.
Yeah, that is a high percentage.
We've also got a voice note here from Olivia with her thoughts on the debate.
I think we can play it right now.
Hello, Virginia.
My name is Olivia.
And this week's big debate is should all mirrors be banned in schools?
I think no, because they're just mirrors and what harm can they do?
Also, school is supposed to be a place for looking smart.
If all mirrors were banned, students couldn't make sure they were keeping smart and looking tidy.
Thank you.
Bye.
Yeah, Joe, what do you think?
Yeah, I think I tend to agree there.
I mean, when we did this on the podcast, I actually argued in favour of schools being removed schools being removed from mirrors, mirrors being removed from school bathrooms.
But I tend to agree with Olivia.
I mean, maybe schools could introduce policies to stop kids hanging around them.
But I don't think you should just kind of do this blanket policy where you get rid of the mirrors entirely, because
Yeah, they're important for staying smart.
You know, they do have their uses, mirrors.
Yeah, Olivia had some really, really good points in there.
Thank you very much, Olivia.
You're right.
Schools.
If you're meant to stay smart in a school, how can you do that if you don't know what you look like?
So thank you so much for sending that in.
Now, Eve, we've also had a few comments as well.
Anyone do you want to tell us about?
Yeah, so we had lots of comments, but these two are just my favourites.
So one person said my school have removed the mirrors and now I need to look into the toilet flush to see myself, which I just
Seems ridiculous.
If you're having to look into the toilet flush.
I just think schools should bring the mirrors back, because that's just crazy.
And someone else has said, mirrors are dangerous if you accidentally get lost in the mirror realm and then eaten by an evil mirror.
I mean, yep, solid.
Yeah.
I mean both fascinating comments and I'd like to delve more into them, but we just don't have the time.
So thank you so much for sending in your thoughts on this week's big debate.
And of course, if you want to get involved, just go to theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls.
Now we've heard some readers' opinions on the big debate, but editorial assistant Elena is here right now to share a few of the other many messages we've received from readers this week.
Hello, Elena.
What have you got for us?
Hello, Bex.
Well, we've had lots of messages and I think you can tell that the warm weather is arriving and everyone's up to a lot.
But this message caught my eye.
Oli showed us a Lego project he's been working on.
And he said, I love Lego and I love Star Wars.
And during the latest Easter holidays, I decided to build a Star Destroyer using my own Lego and would love to show you.
And Oli, we'd love to see it because Lego and Star Wars is the best combination in my opinion.
And this Star Destroyer is unlike anything. any I've ever seen before.
It's so colourful.
I also love that Ollie's wearing a Stormtrooper themed dressing gown.
That's very cool.
And it was actually Star Wars Day the other day on the 4th of May.
So may the 4th be with you, Ollie.
Excellent.
He's on brand.
Yeah, he really kept him with the theme.
Also a shout out to Barney, a very special dog who turned two years old on the 25th of April.
Isha, his owner, said we had lots of fun and we got him a huge pile of presents and we even gave a little muffin and she said don't worry, it's suitable for dogs.
And also, did anyone else spot the little mini bones on top of the muffin?
The little dog bones?
So cute Very, very cute.
I would eat that myself had it not got the dog bones on top.
Lovely.
Well, thank you so much, Elena, for telling us all about these brilliant, brilliant stories.
Yes.
Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your messages.
And don't forget, if you send us a voice note and we feature it, you will get a roving reporter badge.
I'll be back next week with the latest messages from our readers and listeners.
And it's over to you, Bex.
Lovely.
Thank you very much.
Now let's turn our attention back to the magazine this week and the team's favourite stories.
Eve, who is your hero from this week in the magazine?
So I'm cheating here a bit because I'm going for multiple heroes who are on our sports page.
So these heroes took part in the Sue Ryder Mascot Gold Cup.
And this is a very wacky running race where people dress up as mascots.
And it's an annual charity event to raise money for Sue Rider, which is a charity that supports people and families who need help as they face illnesses.
And there were lots of amazing mascot costumes.
There were people dressed as pigs, lions, sausages, all sorts of crazy things.
And the race involved people running 200 metres and jumping over six small fences, which doesn't sound too bad.
But if you're wearing a big mascot suit, it might be quite difficult.
But the winner was a hedgehog called Not So Slow Mo.
And second was Snooty Fox.
And in third place was Hot Bev, who was someone that was dressed as a giant jar of coffee.
And the event raised more than £13,000.
And I just think it sounded amazing.
Oh, what great names.
I love that.
I congratulate everyone who took part.
Now Joe, every issue of The Week Junior is packed with amazing facts, but which of this week's do you think the world needs to know?
Well, I've gone with a fact from our People page, and it's that the common pipishrel, which is the smallest species of bat in the UK, can eat 3000 insects a night.
And the reason it caught my eye is that there's a big lake near where I grew up that I still walk around from time to time.
And sometimes, as the sun's going down, you can look up and see what I think are pipistrelle bats whizzing about as they catch insects.
It's just lovely and it's quite spectacular to see them flitting about.
Did you say 3,000?
3000 insects a night apparently.
Yeah, you'd think they'd have very full tummies by the time their night's work was done.
But, you know, apparently they're such little things as well.
Nature's just incredible, isn't it?
That's brilliant.
I love that.
Eve, have you seen anything particularly yucky this week that you want to tell us about?
Yeah, this story is kind of yucky, but also amazing.
It's about how urine from the thousands of runners who took part in the London Marathon this year is going to be turned into fertilizer, which is a substance that helps plants grow.
So a company called NPK recovery will add bacteria to the urine, which then breaks it down into different substances that can be used in fertilizer.
And it will be added to wheat crops whose grains are then used to make food like bread and pasta.
And the company says it's an environmentally friendly way to make fertilizer.
And I just think it's really cool.
I mean, you know, in a few months maybe I'll be eating a loaf of bread that originally came from someone going for a wee before they did the London Marathon.
When you put it like that Eve, it doesn't sound too appealing.
But you know, respect the, you know the backstory.
Okay well, thanks for that next time i eat a loaf of bread.
That's all i'll think about now.
I did see a lovely story in the magazine.
You've got a kind of two-page spread this week about the, the tate.
Now, the tate is a big kind of art gallery in london and it's 25 years old this year and you've mentioned, like all of the stuff that you can see in there, the stuff they're doing to celebrate the birthday and the fact it's a repurposed building.
So it used to be a building that was used for something else.
And um, it mentions the bottom, the baltic art gallery, which is in Gateshead, which is where I'm from which used to be a flour mill.
So I love the idea of like buildings being repurposed.
And also the Tate is one of my favourite places to visit because it's just such a fun place to wander around and you see stuff you would never see anywhere else.
Joe, have you been to the Tate before?
I have been to the Tate.
The Tate Modern is one of my favourite art galleries.
I love it.
You kind of walk in and there's that huge hall, isn't there?
It's really spectacular.
And I really like modern art.
I kind of find it curious.
I find a lot of it curious because it's a lot more abstract than traditional kind of.
A lot of older art is very realistic and a portrait of very specific things horses and people.
But I like the sort of the abstract nature of modern art.
You know, you're not exactly sure what you're looking at.
And I kind of find it fascinating to stand there and just stare and work out what's going on.
It is honestly, it is incredible.
And I know a lot of people go there on school trips as well.
Now it's time to go back to our real rubbish story.
Joe, can you remind me what it was, please?
Yeah.
So this week's Real or Rubbish was about the news that children will be able to study a pantomime GCSE from next year, after the UK government added it to the school curriculum.
I just don't know.
I really don't know with this one, because I can't tell whether you're pulling my leg and it's actually.
You know, it's a part of a bigger course.
But also if I say no, pantomimes aren't worth that much studying other people of panto land going to be very cross at me.
I don't want to offend... all the dames out there.
So I am going to say this week the story is... Oh, I'm going to say it.
Oh, I really don't know.
I think the story is... real, real, real.
Yeah, there we go.
Can we have a drumroll?
Drumroll.
It's rubbish.
It is rubbish.
We've tricked you, Bex.
No!
Well, I was going to say I'm afraid, but I'm not sorry to say I'm sorry.
I'm getting quite competitive now as the weeks go by.
I was really tense then.
I was like, try not to respond with my face over the video call.
But yeah, there's no such thing as a pantomime GCSE at the moment.
Although the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, which I mentioned, did put on a production of Snow White over the winter that won a Best Direction Award last month.
So a very big well done to them.
Oh, well, congratulations to them and to you for pulling the wool over my eyes.
I must try hard next week.
Now finally, it is Listen Up the bit of the show that gives you the chance to win a copy of our book of the week.
This week, it's Clem Fatale has been betrayed by Eve Vosoksky-Morris.
And all you've got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this week's episode.
So if you think you know the answer, grab a grown up and head to theweekjuniorcouk slash listen up.
All you've got to do is fill in the online entry form.
Enter the prize draw before the closing date of the 15th of May at 1159am.
The Week Junior team will randomly select a winner from all of the entries with the correct answer.
And if you're under 16, you've got to have your parent or guardian's permission to enter.
And terms and conditions apply.
You can find out more, of course you can, at theweekjunior.co.uk slash terms.
So, are you ready?
Listen up.
Okay.
How old is Ethel Caterham, the world's oldest living person?
So if you know the answer to the question, you can go to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash.
Listen up to enter our giveaway.
Yeah, no excuses.
We have literally told you in this episode, so you've got to enter.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you again to Eve and Joe, who'll be joining me again next week to discuss more of the amazing, strange and sometimes pretty yucky things happening in the world.
Don't forget to send in a voice note for your chance to have your voice on this podcast.
And of course, win a roving reporter badge today.
Do rate, review and subscribe or follow us wherever it is you get your podcasts.
If you like The Week Junior show, you will love The Week Junior magazine.
Head to theweekjunior.co.uk to find out more.
See you next week.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to this podcast, which is made by the same people that make The Week Junior magazine.
You can get six free issues of The Week Junior or three issues of The Week Junior Science and Nature for £5 by heading to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash podcast offer.
