Hello and welcome to the Week Junior show.
I'm Bex and I'm joined by writers Eve and Joe from the Week Junior, the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds.
Now, in a week where experts revealed an ancient study in Peru and Texas in the US experienced flash floods, we're going to be discussing some of the other stories, events and people that inspired the Week Junior team.
Now make sure you're listening closely, because at the end of the episode we'll be asking a question about what you've heard.
And if you answer it correctly, you could win a prize.
But before all of that, Eve and Jo, there is something I'd like to talk to you about.
There's a lovely picture in this week's magazine of a tiger cooling down during some very hot weather by licking some ice.
So I want to know how you cool down.
Do you also lick ice or do you do something else?
Jo?
It is ice related.
I like a nice glass of fizzy pop with some ice cubes in, and I always keep ice cubes in the freezer for that purpose.
In my opinion, there's not too much better than those first few sips of a cool fizzy drink when you're thirsty on a hot day.
Oh, you made me want one right now, Joe.
Eve, how about you?
Well, so i really like specifically, a magnum is what i go for.
But i uh, the other day i did something amazing when uh, we had the heat wave and it was about 33 degrees.
I'd been for a picnic and i got home and i got a glass of ice, because i also have ice in the freezer as well.
I got a glass of ice and i kind of like i was holding it waiting for it to melt so i could just kind of drink just melted ice, and i also had a magnum and i sat in front of a fan and oh, it was amazing.
So with this coming heat wave again, that's probably a tactic i will, i'll be eating magnums every day.
It's a good excuse, isn't it?
I don't blame you.
Oh, the sun's out.
I guess I've got to have a Magnum.
Fair enough.
Oh, God.
When you said just melted ice, I was going to be like, that's just water.
But you mean it's nearly like.
Yeah, I mean, like it's just it's very it just melted as in a second ago.
So it's still really cold.
OK, I'll give you that.
And my way of keeping cold is finding shops with air conditioning or going to supermarkets with freezers in and just kind of opening the door and just like getting a bit of a waft of cold air.
It works like a charm.
And then I walk out feeling lovely and cool.
But I mean, I don't know whether the shops appreciate it.
I'm not sure.
If listeners at home want to tell us their top tips for staying cool, you can send us an email to hello at theweekjuniorcouk or leave us a voice note at funkidslivecom.
Slash theweekjunior.
All you've got to do is grab a grown-up, look for the big red button, and record your voice.
Now, if your voice note is played next week, you could win a Week Junior Roving Reporter badge.
And last week we asked what everyone's secret talent was, and we've got this message here to tell us a little bit more from Caitlin.
Hi, The Week Junior.
I'm Caitlin and my secret talent is is I remember what's on the menu for school dinners for the whole month.
That's because I love school dinners.
Wow.
For the whole month?
That is amazing.
Not even a day or a week.
That's such a good skill.
I thought she was going to say for the whole week and then she got to this whole month at the end.
I was impressed, yeah.
I bet all of the staff absolutely love Caitlin, because Caitlin clearly appreciates a good school dinner and a lunch.
And now I want to know what's on the menu.
Me too.
Yeah, if it's different meals every day for a month, that's incredible as well.
And the memory skills are just out of this world.
A master memory there.
Caitlin, thank you so, so much for that.
We do love hearing all of your voice notes.
So if you want to tell us this week how you like to stay cool, please send us a voice note to funkidslivecom.
Slash theweekjunior.
Now let's turn our attention to the latest magazine, because I want to know what's been in the headlines this week.
Eve, what do you have for me?
So I've got the National Kindness Awards because this year's winners have just been revealed.
And so the National Kindness Awards recognise people and schools around the UK who try to make communities kinder.
And it's organised by the School of Kindness, which is part of a charity called 52 Lives.
And so the Kind Pupil Award went to Ava, who's in year five.
And Ava writes kind and encouraging notes to new pupils to make them feel welcome, which I think is so nice.
And she's also apparently raised loads of money for charity outside of school.
And this involved doing a challenge where she cycled 57 miles, which is really, really impressive.
And then the Kind Adult Award went to a staff member called Miss Jo. who is a catering assistant.
And she's known for her ability to make all children feel really valued, because she does really kind things like remembering what people's favourite snacks are and comforting children who are upset, which I just think is so nice.
And you can read in the magazine as well about the winners of the Collective Kindness Award and the Kind School Prize as well.
And it's just so lovely to hear about people doing really kind things and being recognised for it as well.
Oh, that's really sweet.
I do love, I often leave notes for people.
And there is something quite nice about either getting a note or leaving a note, because it shows that you've remembered someone basically, doesn't it?
It's quite a sweet thing to do.
Yeah, definitely.
Sometimes my flatmate and I write notes for each other on the whiteboard on the fridge to say like have a nice day, and stuff like that.
Yeah, it just perks you up a little bit.
That's lovely.
Oh, it's nice to hear about that.
So I'll definitely be checking that out in the magazine.
Jo, what's another story you've seen in the news this week?
It's one that we've put on our Around the World pages, and it's about the River Seine in the French capital of Paris.
And the river was recently opened to swimmers for the first time since 1923.
It's been closed during that long period of time because of pollution in the water.
But before the Paris Olympics in 2024, more than £1 billion was spent cleaning it up.
There are three free swimming areas with lifeguards and they'll be open until the end of August.
And there'll be daily checks to test the water quality.
Yeah, I'd absolutely get in there.
That's amazing.
Brilliant.
Thank you very much, guys.
Two great stories this week.
Now moving on, it's time for my favourite part of the show, the most competitive part real or rubbish.
Now, this is the bit where I have to tell if somebody is telling me a lie or the truth.
And this week, I believe, Jo, it's your turn to tell me a story.
This week's Real or Rubbish is about rugby that's played with a twist.
And the twist being that it's underwater.
Players wear flippers and snorkels and aim to plonk the ball in a basket at either end of a swimming pool.
A big part of the game is swimming up for air at exactly the right time, because obviously humans can't breathe underwater.
And unlike traditional rugby, where you can only pass backwards, it's kind of 3D.
So you can pass forwards, you can pass up, left and down but Bex, is this a real sport or is my tail awash with lies, right?
Okay, so rugby traditionally played with an egg shaped ball.
Is this the same shape ball?
Is my first question.
It's not.
No, it's.
It's more of a spherical ball.
I was trying to think what the shape was.
A spherical ball, yeah.
So my problem with this then, is why is it rugby if it's not the same shape ball, which is one of the defining characteristics of rugby?
And also you said they put them into nets.
Surely if it was like rugby, you would push them over like a line or something.
Oh, not nets and baskets, baskets at either end of the pool.
I guess the thing is as soon as you take it underwater, you're going to, by its very nature, you're going to have to change nets, elements of the game, to make it workable underwater.
So yeah, it's not.
It's not a complete carbon copy of rugby, you know, sort of taken from the air, taken from above the surface to underwater.
And I mean the water, the ball.
I don't know about the shape, but I know that it's filled with salt water to to reduce its buoyancy.
And I'd imagine the shape, a circular shape, a spherical shape, maybe travels better underwater.
I'm not, I'm not entirely sure about that.
But yeah, I mean, when does rugby stop being rugby?
I suppose that's a question.
But yeah, they've had to make certain changes to the game to make it viable underwater, because rugby, as we know it, just wouldn't work.
I like they do have like an underwater sport.
I do like this, but it sounds to me more like an underwater basketball situation.
And also I'm intrigued about the thing about having obviously to go and get air.
You can't really be underwater for that long, surely?
No, you can't, you can't.
I'd imagine you get quite good at it if you practice and if you play.
If you're playing underwater rugby for a period of time.
But my understanding is it's quite an important part of the game knowing when to take your air brakes and when to come up for air.
And I understand that quite a few points are scored during time periods when people, when opposition members of the opposition team, have gone up for air.
So it's It's not just about going up for air.
That is factored into the game.
It's a really important part and it's a really important part of the tactics of the game.
Okay.
Oh, you spoke so convincingly there that I don't know.
Okay.
So we'll find out at the end of the show whether I rug-believe it or not.
No no no yeah okay, I'm happy with that.
You always squeeze a pun in.
I look, I do my best, but I do I.
Oh, I'm not too sure about this one, but maybe you're listening at home and you know the answer, or maybe you're not sure either.
Stick around and find out what it was.
And while we're thinking about that, it's time to talk about our book of the week.
We've got a message here from the author, Becca Rogers, to tell us a little bit more about it.
Hello, I'm Becca Rogers, author of middle grade fantasy adventure, The Girl with Gills.
Ephra is a 13-year-old larker.
She's part of a secret community of people with gills.
That means she can swim underwater for hours at a time.
She lives on a houseboat with her little brother Fleet, who she loves more than anyone in the world.
And together they swim under the river and scour the mudbanks looking for treasure to trade.
But one day, a larker gone bad, Riverman threatens fleet.
And to save him, Ephraim must dive into deep river.
She must face the terrifying river serpent and the rat queen who lives in the sewers with her army of rats.
She needs to find an ice pearl to settle a bloodline debt before the tide changes forever.
This is a story of belonging and friendship, Adventure and courage, not just to face horrible creatures and terrifying villains, but also to be vulnerable with your friends and loved ones and tell them how you're really feeling.
When I was younger, my favourite book in the world was The Witches by Roald Dahl.
The witches are all bald, but they wear wigs to disguise themselves.
The only clue is that they're always scratching at their bald heads because the wigs are so itchy.
I really loved the idea of a community of people hidden in plain sight.
And the Larkers are like this too.
They hide their gills behind neckerchiefs and scarves and roller necks.
But next time you see someone in a neckerchief, maybe with a little bit of river weed in their hair, you might just wonder.
I really hope you will love diving into this adventure with the Girl with Gills.
Oh, my goodness.
Thank you very much to Becca.
The Witches is one of the most terrifying books I've ever read.
She's reminded me of how good it also is.
And if you want a chance to win a copy of Becca's new book The Girl with Gills, stay with us until the end of the show because you can find out how to enter our prize draw.
Now, we've just been joined by this week's guest editor.
It's Vanessa.
Vanessa, welcome to the show.
Hello.
How are you doing?
And what would you like to tell us about?
Well, we're very excited this week because it's our 500th issue.
Can you believe it?
We can't believe it.
Yeah, I've been there since the start.
And so we celebrated number 500 this week.
So obviously it's a very big milestone for us.
So, to celebrate, we asked an illustrator to create a brilliant cover featuring just a handful of the many, many stories we've covered in that time.
And we've also got a survey asking our readers about their dream job, what they think that might be.
There are instructions on how to get involved in the survey on page 28 of the issue, and we cannot wait to find out what our brilliant creative, marvellous readers want to do in the future.
We'll report the results as well in a few weeks' time.
Now, we've got a challenge as well.
Going back to our beautiful cover, we've set our readers the task of trying to find 50 of the stories we put on the cover and on page 14 of this week's issue.
We've given clues and boxes for you to tick off as you find them.
So eagle eyes at the ready everybody but Eve I think you might have a little task for Bex as well.
Yeah, I was thinking Bex, you know.
I mean this might be a bit harder for you because we're going to give you only 30 seconds and you don't have any of the clues that the readers of the week junior will be having.
But I was thinking you could take a look at this brilliant cover and name as many things as you can spot in 30 seconds.
I'm going to count the timer.
Vanessa is going to count how many things you're doing.
And then we're going to, we're going to see how many you managed to get.
Do I have to collect the stories they represent or am I just telling you what I see?
I think you can just tell us what you see, because some of them are stories that we covered earlier, you know, five years ago, and you might not know the ins and outs of the story.
But yeah, if you could just tell us what or who you're seeing and yeah, are you, are you ready?
I'm gonna, i'm gonna give you a taste of your own medicine.
Big debate i've got, although you actually can't see it, but but, because my phone screen's so bright, but there is a clock here and you've got 30 seconds, hopefully you'll be able to.
Oh, you can see it now okay, so i've got 30 seconds to tell you everything i can see here you haven't seen.
I'm so excited about this because i purposely haven't looked at the cover because we were playing this game.
Oh gosh, I'm so excited.
OK, are you ready?
Yes.
Three, two, one, go.
OK, I can see an octopus's tentacle.
I can see a TARDIS, a balloon with the UK.
Oh yeah, and then some EU balloons, and the UK one is floating away, which I think might mean Brexit.
I can see a rainbow NHS banner.
I can see the Week Junior Book Awards, which I am part of.
I can see, I think, Joseph Coelho, I reckon.
I can see Taylor Swift, King Charles.
Someone on a computer, which looks like Vanessa, actually.
I can see a book that says WBD, World Book Day.
I see there's a massive dinosaur.
There's a chessboard with a robotic arm.
Oh, time's up.
Oh, what?
Time's up.
Oh, my God.
There was so much I wanted to tell you about.
Oh, that was so quick.
That was incredibly impressive.
Can I give the results that I have?
Yes, please do.
In 30 seconds you spotted, pretty impressively, 12 stories.
Oh my god, so much more so we've got.
So you've got to find 50.
So if anyone's maths is better than mine, we can work out how long it would take becks to get all of them all 50 anyway.
Well done.
Oh gosh, i am now obsessed with this cover.
This is incredible.
Um, i i can't stop looking at it.
Massive well done to the design.
I can see brian cox and barack obama just hanging out, and a squirrel and a llama, and I assume these are the two astronauts who got stuck in space recently.
Um, this is absolutely incredible and I love it.
And is that you, Vanessa?
Is that you and Anna?
And the table there?
Yes, and Dave, and that's Dave holding the pencil.
Dave, the art director.
Oh, my goodness, what an incredible.
Are there any other any other week junior people that I should know in this that have been hidden away as easter eggs?
Are you guys in there?
No, but there is an Absolutely tiny.
I'm warning you now.
Well, it doesn't make any sense to you, but there is an angry bird somewhere on there and you might need a magnifying glass to find it.
Oh, no.
Anyway.
Okay.
I'm just we shouldn't have given Bex this, because we're just not going to be able to do the show now, are we?
Yeah, I know.
You're not going to be listening to any other stories we tell you now, because you're just going to be going mm-hmm yeah.
Oh, I see something else.
Honestly, I can see a spray-painted poo emoji.
Right, I'm going to have to stop looking.
I'm so sorry, but that is an incredible cover and I'm absolutely loving it.
Vanessa, thank you so, so much for that.
And congratulations on 500 issues.
That's a massive achievement, right?
Yes, it's fantastic.
And that was just a tiny, tiny selection of the stories we covered.
I think I probably had more fun putting that together than anybody will have actually doing it.
It was brilliant.
And just remembering all the stories.
Basically what we did is we came up with a massive, massive list and then went through them all, thinking what would look good, what would make sense as a story.
You know what's interesting.
So we then kind of whittled them down that way.
But yeah, we've been working on it basically since March.
I absolutely adore it.
And it's paid off all of that hard work, Vanessa.
I can't wait to go back and look at the cover.
But I'm going to have to do more of the podcast first.
So thank you so much, Vanessa, for telling us all about it.
Right.
It is time for this week's big debate.
And the question this week is, should school summer breaks be shorter?
Now, Eve and Joe will go head to head to take a side each on this argument.
But before we hear from them, here's some information you need to know.
From autumn 2026, some schools in Surrey England, will shift to a two-week half-term in October, and the summer holidays will therefore be shortened by a week.
The change is a result of a survey that asked residents, schools and parents in the area whether school summer holidays should be shorter.
About 60 of those who took part in the survey said the summer holidays should be shorter.
About 30 were against it and the rest were unsure.
The Welsh government has looked at shortening school summer holidays too, but decided against it as there was too much opposition to the plan.
So should school summer breaks be shorter?
Jo is team yes and Eve is team no.
Each of them will have 60 seconds to make their case, and then I'll make up my mind on which side I agree with more.
So Jo, whenever you're ready, take it away.
So having a shorter summer break and taking that week off elsewhere could mean a better holiday balance throughout the year, making teachers and students less tired and stressed and potentially helping parents with childcare arrangements and time off work.
Taking a longer half-term in autumn could reduce absences as well, because coughs and colds are way more common when the weather is colder.
So an extra long break would do everyone good.
And besides, some children miss their friends during the six weeks of summer.
I mean, I'm sure you guys remember as well when I was young it just felt like a ridiculously long length of time to be off.
That six weeks, I know it goes very quickly now you're an adult.
But yeah, the point is that a long break just isn't right for everyone.
So yeah, I'm in favour of taking that chunk of time and moving it over to the autumn.
Oh, interesting.
The point about coughs and colds and stuff like that, yeah, I hadn't really thought about that.
Yeah.
Also, I'm very aware of holding the timer after I've just been timed for 30 seconds.
I now understand how you guys feel.
I'm sorry.
Right.
So, Eve, it's your turn to disagree.
So whenever you're ready, take it away.
Well, I just don't agree with Jo, because I think six weeks off school is just the perfect way to have a proper reset.
I remember how excited I used to be for that long chunk of time. off of school.
And there's so many amazing things to do over the holidays.
Like you can spend time with family, or you can go traveling, go on holiday, play with friends, try out new clubs, things like that.
And these are just as important as going to school for helping children learn new things and find out more about themselves and what they enjoy doing and what hobbies they have.
And teachers need that break just as much as children do.
They need plenty of time to relax, but then they still have that bit of time at the end to prepare for the upcoming school year.
And it might feel a bit short and rushed for them otherwise.
And I was also thinking as well about how.
You know, summer is very hot at the moment and going to school when you're really hot is not ideal.
So having a longer break at summer is quite a good way to make sure that you're not having to go to school when it's really warm.
So for that reason, I think we should stick to six week summer holidays.
Oh, well, first of all, congratulations, both of you under a minute.
I don't know about this one.
I like the idea of having more breaks in October.
But then I also like the idea of having more time in a summer holiday.
There's something quite magical about having just six weeks off to go and do your own thing.
So I'm not too sure about this one.
But of course, really.
We need to hear from the people it actually affects.
So I want to hear from the listeners and the readers of The Week Junior right now.
So if you've got an opinion on this week's big debate, you can get involved.
You can vote online at theweekjuniorcouk slash polls, or you could email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjuniorcouk.
And of course, you can send us a voice note.
Just go to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Scroll down until you see that big red button, grab a grown-up and record your voice.
And then your message could be in next week's episode.
Now, last week's big debate was about whether people should stop flying on planes.
What did our Week Junior listeners and readers vote?
Well, people felt really strongly about this one because 81 said no, people should not stop flying on planes.
That is a high percentage.
OK, I think we've got a voice note here from Anya.
Hello, Week Junior.
My name's Anya and I think you should keep using planes because like Bec said...
How will you get to Australia or New Zealand or all those far places away from here?
So I think you should still use planes.
Oh, my goodness.
Like Bex said, I've never been quoted in a voicemail before.
Oh, no, I felt the power.
The famous words of Bex.
I love that.
OK, thank you very much, Anya, for getting in touch.
Joe, any other opinions in the inbox?
Yeah, one said... people can't just straight up stop flying.
Just think how many people would lose their job if airports and airlines were never needed, and lots of people might have friends or relatives on the other side of the world.
And another said I think people should not stop flying because half of my family live in Australia and it would take 40 to 100 days by boat, which does not sound like an enjoyable journey.
And I think I'd be inclined to agree with that.
Yeah, absolutely.
100 days on a boat, you get there for like two days, you get back again for another 100 days.
Most of your year just takes off.
A lot of time off work, yeah.
A lot of time off school, even.
You'd be away for a lot of that.
Now we have heard lots from our readers on The Big Debate, but now we've got editorial assistant Elena to share some of the other messages we've received this week.
Hey, Elena.
Hi, everyone.
This week we've got a voice note from Finn, who told us about a special achievement he has had this week.
Hi, my name is Finn and I'm 10 years old.
At my school this week, it was speech day.
At my school, we have three pillars, resilience, fellowship and scholarship.
I got the scholarship award.
Thanks.
Bye.
Wow, Finn, congratulations.
Yeah, I'm not sure if this was within your class or whether it was a school-wide thing, but this is so amazing.
I think also well done to the school for recognizing pupils' efforts too.
I would have loved to have something like this.
So yeah, huge congratulations, Vin.
We also got a message from Katarina, who said I was inspired by two of my favorite things SpongeBob and fruit to create this Squidward face fruit plate.
Let me tell you I don't know what makes this fruit plate look so much like Squidward's face, but it really works.
Katarina used passion fruit for the eyes, strawberries for the mouth and what.
We've been discussing this in the office and we think this is the peeled skin of a mango for the nose, and maybe that's what brings it together, because it looks amazing.
Tell me eve, would you eat from this delicious looking plate?
Do you know what i think?
You're right about the nose as well, because squidward's nose is just the most kind of.
That's how you know it's squidward.
Um, i think that looks delicious.
What a fun way to make fruit look so tasty.
I want to eat that right now.
I've just never been a fruit girl, but maybe this is what I was missing.
Just like, get get creative with it.
Anyway, we'll start doing that for you in the office.
Oh okay yeah, we do get the fruit baskets we get on Monday.
We can rearrange them.
We can have a look at that next week.
Anyway, thank you so much.
I've just got pictures of Squidward up, sorry.
And you're right about the nosey.
Yeah, sorry.
I'm not a huge fan club.
Yeah, anyway, moving on.
Yeah, it's definitely the nose.
Thank you so much, Finn and Katerina.
And thank you to everyone who sends us their messages.
I'll be back next week with more.
And don't forget if you send us a voice note and we feature it in the podcast, we will send you a reported batch in return.
Bye, everyone, for now.
Thank you very much, Elena.
Now it's time to turn our attention back to the magazine this week and to the team's favourite stories.
Eve, who's been your hero of the week in the magazine?
So my hero this week is John McFall, who I recently got to interview for The Week Junior.
And so John McFall is an astronaut who's training to go on a space mission and he was recently cleared to become the first person with a physical disability to go to the International Space Station.
And so McFall lost his right leg in an accident when he was younger and he now wears a prosthesis which is an artificial limb, and he's been helping the European Space Agency with a study to help with the test.
The possibility of sending an astronaut with a physical disability to space and he was explaining to me part of this has involved testing out different prosthetic legs for running in space.
Because in space astronauts have to do regular exercise because the gravity is different and this can make their bones and muscles waste away, so they have to do exercise to make sure that doesn't happen.
And so he recently did some tests where he went on a plane that flies up and down in a series of arcs and that kind of simulates the feeling of weightlessness.
And then during this, he ran on a treadmill to test out the different prosthetic legs, which I think is amazing.
And I asked him where in space he would most like to travel to, and he said the moon, because it would be cool to walk on it and also because it would offer a really amazing view of the Earth.
So I think John McFall's really cool.
Can't wait for him to go to space.
It would be cool to get to the moon.
He's not wrong there.
Thank you very much, Eve.
Now, Joe, what's been your favourite fact you've learnt this week?
My favourite fact? is from a story on our animals and environment pages.
And the story is about a study done into the sleeping habits of orangutans in the forests of Indonesia.
The study found that, very much like a lot of humans, they make up for a poor night's sleep by taking naps during the day.
And in fact, for every hour of missed nighttime sleep, they add an extra five to 10 minutes to their daytime nap.
It's thought that these napping habits may give their brains a boost.
I mean, I do love napping and I appreciate that other creatures do love it as well.
Now, I've been looking through the magazine.
There's loads of really good stories in there this week.
One that made me smile was about Myra, who's eight, from London and has won first prize in the Royal Mint Museum's short story competition.
Now the Royal Mint make all of the coins and the money themselves for us and um, i love that they had a competition for writing.
Now, this is a 500 word story with the theme sustainable futures, and she's the youngest winner in the competition's five year history.
I believe the royal mint museum.
It has some exhibits about how money is made and i've always wanted to go there so um, maybe i'll go and i'll be able to check out this story as well.
I just love the idea that they they have stories as part of the royal mint like what, what a lovely thing to do.
So it's quite a cool.
Issue of the Week Junior this week.
I've really, really enjoyed leafing through it.
Well, the bits I was allowed to leaf through, not checking out the front cover obviously, and also not checking out the real rubbish.
Speaking of which, it's time for the moment of truth.
Joe, can you remind me about this week's story, please?
Yeah, so it was about rugby that's played underwater.
And players wear flippers and snorkels and they aim to plonk the ball in baskets at either end of a swimming pool.
But...
Was I telling fib specs?
Okay well, I think where I'm stumbling with this is the idea that it's being called rugby when it doesn't feel like it's rugby.
It feels like it could be called any other sport.
That's my problem here.
Yeah, I mean, it's not too far removed from the sport of rugby.
Like, there is contact between the players.
There is tackling.
I'd imagine it's not quite so forceful underwater because everything's slowed down, isn't it?
But, you know, and they do still throw a ball to each other.
I really am so stuck on this.
I genuinely don't know.
I like the idea of it.
I mean, as usual, I just don't trust you.
That's the problem here.
And you're very good at giving answers very quickly.
And I don't know whether that means the answer is in front of you or you're making it up on the spot.
I am going to say this week, underwater rugby is rubbish.
I'm going to say it's rubbish.
Yeah, there we go.
Yeah, let's do it.
Drum roll.
Drum roll bex.
It's real, is it?
It is real.
There are uh, there are a few underwater rugby teams in the uk actually, i think, including one in putney in london, but the sport is more popular in other countries, so that's maybe why we haven't heard of it so much.
Um some of the countries.
Well, one country it's more popular in is columbia, and i understand it's more popular in northern europe as well.
So there you go.
I mean, if you, you know, if you fancy it, if you've got a pair of flippers and a snorkel, go for it.
Let's have a game.
Let's do it.
Week junior, week junior outing underwater rugby.
Yeah.
Slightly worried about injury, but there you go.
Maybe, maybe we could leave some people on the sidelines just so, just to make sure, like some people are around to kind of make the magazine.
The magazine can still go to press.
Well, I'm going to get my flippers out and join in.
All right.
Thank you very much.
I mean, I'm sad to not get it right, but I'm thrilled to find out it's real.
Now it's time for Listen Up.
This is the part of the show that gives you the chance to win a copy of our book of the week, which this week was The Girl with Gills, by Becca Rogers.
All you've got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this episode.
And if you think you know the answer, grab a grown up and head to theweekjuniorcouk slash.
Listen up to fill in our online entry form and end the prize draw before the closing date of the 17th of July at noon.
Now 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 must have a parent or guardian's permission to enter, and terms and conditions apply.
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Listen up.
Okay.
Where in space did astronaut John McFall say he would most like to go?
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Listen up to enter our giveaway.
Lovely stuff.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you, of course, to Joe, Eve, Vanessa and Elena.
Next week, we'll be back to discuss more of the fascinating stories that are happening in the world.
And don't forget to send in voice notes for a chance to have your voice on the podcast and possibly win a roving reporter badge.
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See you soon.
Bye.
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