IT'S difficult to believe in this day and age but, according to the BBC, over 500 households in Scotland are still watching their TV in black and white!
Glasgow has the largest number of black and white sets at 200, followed by Edinburgh with 55.
Regular colour broadcasts began in the UK on BBC Two in July 1967. The cost of a black and white licence is £49 compared with £145.50 for a colour licence.
A spokesman for TV Licensing Scotland said: “It's astounding that more than 550 households in Scotland still watch on a black and white telly, especially now that over half of homes access TV content over the internet, on smart TVs.”
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2016 is a good year for anniversaries says the Daily Mirror. England's 1966 World Cup win and the Battle of Hastings are both officially being celebrated next year and they are among a string of anniversaries being marked by English Heritage.
Others include the death of William Shakespeare in 1616 and the Somme Offensive in 1916.
English Heritage, which looks after more than 400 historic sites, is holding a wide range of events through 2016 to mark all the big anniversaries.
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And it also looks to be a productive time for coin collectors.
The BBC lets us know that images representing Shakespeare plays and Beatrix Potter tales will be among those featuring on coins produced by the Royal Mint.
Shakespeare will be depicted on £2 coins and a 50p coin will honour Beatrix Potter to mark the 150 years since her birth, while another commemorates the Battle of Hastings.
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The National Trust's annual survey gives a good indication of the impact of weather and climate on the UK and, says The Guardian, how it has affected Britain’s flora and fauna. Jellyfish were judged to have flourished while wasps suffered a sharp decline.
A sunny winter was followed by a late spring, which meant summer migrant birds were late, as were the leaves on the hedges. A pretty wet and windy summer followed, but September and October were mild, leading to prolonged flowering for many summer plants and a longer season for insects.
Matthew Oates, a National Trust nature and wildlife specialist, said: “We’ve seen unprecedented jellyfish invasions. This may be due to overfishing and warming seas, which has led to huge plankton booms and reduced the number of predators.”
He added: “Wasps had another poor year, particularly in the south-west. This represents a wider decline in our insect populations, thought to be a result of confounding weather alongside the possible effects of pesticides used in farming.
“We need to ask what’s happening to our wasps. Many might welcome their dwindling numbers, but the ecological world is a delicate one, and with our two species of common wasps incredibly scarce in many districts for the second consecutive year, we have to ask what impact this is having.”
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Err...sorry dad! The Daily Telegraph tells the story of a seven year old, from Crawley in West Sussex, who racked up a £4,000 bill on his father's iPad playing a dinosaur video game.
The father only found out his son had been playing Jurassic World when his bank card was declined.
He said he had “no idea” that his son knew his password, but said he must have watched him tap it in and copied him.
Reference list:
The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk)
Daily Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)
Daily Telegraph (www.telegraph co.uk)
BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)