IT appears that Britain has a 'new tallest mountain'.

According to the BBC, Mt Hope, which is sited in the part of the Antarctic claimed by the UK, has been re-measured and found to higher than the previous title holder, Mt Jackson.

Hope is now put at 3,239m (10,626ft); Jackson is 3,184m (10,446ft).

“In Antarctica there are no roads, so to get around you have to fly planes. And if you're flying planes you really need to know where the mountains are and how high they are," explained Dr Peter Fretwell, from the British Antarctic Survey.”

 HE'S reckoned to be the UK's longest serving Father Christmas but 82 year old Ron Horniblew from Luton has told the Daily Mail that he has no plans to retire despite racking up 53 years in the job.

Ron said: “If I can make one person happy and smiley, then that's great. And you'll get some people who are a bit miserable and think, 'silly old fool', but I'm the one who's the clever one because I'm happy and it makes me feel young.”

He added: “I've no plans at all to retire, no. I'm going to make it hard for the next person who says he is the longest-running Santa.”

Mr Horniblew, who raises money for charity through his festive endeavour, said he struggled to understand the huge numbers of presents children now receive.

PARKING fees and fines are providing big bucks for councils in England. The BBC tells that the local authorities generated £819m from parking fees and fines in 2016-17, an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year. This figure takes into account running costs deducted. The Local Government Association said surpluses were spent on […]

HOW about this for a story containing plenty of Christmas cheer?

According to The Independent, The Alexandra pub in Wimbledon, London, is offering a free pint of beer and a Christmas dinner to anyone who is on their own this year.

A statement on the pub's Facebook page reads: “I've been asked by a few people now if we are doing the 'free meal for anyone who is on their own' thing on Christmas day this year. The answer is that of course we are, and we're doing it exactly the same as last year.

“Free means free, once you've eaten it and drank it you can toddle off home if you want, you are not obligated one per cent to buy anything at all. We don't want your email address, it doesn't matter if you never set foot in the pub again, or if you never came here before, as long as you leave here happier than you would have been if you hadn't walked in on Christmas day, we've done our bit.”

A novel dining experience is being offered at the American themed Grand Central restaurant in Chelmsford, Essex.

According to the Daily Express, owners Steve and Jo Haslam have offered to cut the bill of people who eat there – if they surrender their mobile phones!

THE Daily Mail reports on the sale at an auction of a rare album of comic First World War postcards by 'saucy seaside' artist Donald McGill.

They say that the Inter-Art Company's book, printed in 1917, shows hundreds of tongue-in-cheek war illustrations and was bought by James Bissell-Thomas, owner of the Donald McGill Postcard Museum in Ryde, Isle of Wight.

He said: “It's so exciting to have found this album at auction. I knew the book existed, but I thought that over the years it may have been broken up and the postcards sold off individually.”

McGill was famous for his comic seaside cards but during the war he also produced 1,500 different designs of patriotic postcards. It seems that the endangered red Squirrel species have been successfully returned to the Highlands area of north-west Scotland.