Each week, Ben Hopkinson looks back at a serious, crazy, and happy news story from the past week.
Serious News
Last Sunday, saw the turn of the new year, as we waved goodbye to 2022 and hello to 2023.
London held a massive 12,000 firework display and drone show over The Thames, which included Big Ben and The London Eye and lasted for 12 minutes.
The music played over tributes to Ukraine, the planet, love is love as well as The Queen, as drones created the shape of a crown and then transformed into ER II, followed by her profile on a huge coin.
The show ended with a message reading “2023 with love from London” as the show came to an end”.
Crazy News
Two metal detectorists have been handed a huge fine and risk an extended jail sentence following being found guilty of sealing $3.6 million of buried treasure.
Back in 2015, George Powell and Layton Davies were using their equipment in Herefordshire when they came across hundreds of coins from the Saxon era, as well as silver and jewellery. However, these two were not aware of the 1996 Treasure Act, as you are required to declare your discovery to the authorities, which this pair did not do.
They instead reported three valueless coins and sold the rest on the black market. All of these belonged to King Alfred and date back 1,100 years and in total are worth $14.4 million.
Happy News
A takeaway is offering everyone free pizza in January – the only catch is that you need to live in Edinburgh.
Marc Wilkinson is the owner of Pure Pizza and has been planning the act to help those struggling with the living crisis, as well as giving his staff more work.
Speaking about the plan, he says: “I’m very happy with my plan because it’s a win, win, win for everyone. The customers benefit, the suppliers benefit and my team of chefs benefit as it gives them more hours of work”.
He has estimated that it will cost him around £12,000 and he hopes that this offer will help people pass on the act of kindness in their own way.
