Sports

The British Skeleton Team – Sliding to Victory

skeleton olympic

How would you like to slide down a very steep and winding track of ice on something very similar to a tea tray at around 140km per hour? Yes, no, maybe. Well, there are people out there who can and do want to. And what’s more, they’re really rather good at it.
 Alongside Bobsleigh and Luge, the Skeleton is one of three sliding sports that take place on artificially refrigerated ice tracks. It’s a really white knuckle experience as each skeleton athlete pushes their sled one handed away from the start before lying down with their face first as they travel the track, using their shoulders, knees and toes for steering.

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Language & Literature, Popular

The Great Vowel Shift

If you have learnt a foreign language, or if you are bilingual in another European language, you may have noticed that there are a number of words that are similar to words in English. Perhaps you may even have been told that some of them are derived from Latin or Greek, or that they have Germanic roots. But why is the pronunciation so often so different in English?

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Science, Nature and Tech

The leg bone’s connected to the….

Why didn’t the Skeleton go to the party? Cos he had nobody to dance with….
Get it?
Yes, ok… so not the most original joke, but the skeleton is truly an amazing structure. Much like the rest of the body.
So apart from making a great Halloween costume, what is a skeleton for? What do the various bits a pieces do?

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Toys and Games

Merida The Beautiful… Wait… What??!

 Merida the Beautiful … Wait. What?
 Since when was Merida the beautiful princess? Wasn’t she Merida the Brave? Wasn’t she an anti-princess, a strong and feisty fighter, defender of her own virtue, thank you very much.
British Canadian blogger Sarah Jay takes a closer look at Merida merchandising.

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