15-21 August 2015
Saturday
A Scottish legend
A piece of trivia for English teachers: on this day in 1057, the real Macbeth, King of Scotland, died (although some historians cite 14 August). His fall came 17 years after he was crowned on 14 August 1040.
Sunday
Murray’s mint
Britain’s Andy Murray got back to winning ways by defeating Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic to bag the silverware at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. It was his first victory over the Serbian in eight contests.
Monday
Naming convention
For teachers eager to find out the names of the children they’ll be teaching in years to come, the Office for National Statistics provided its annual list of top baby names. Prepare for multiple Olivers and Amelias.
Tuesday
Give peace a chance
Instrumental lessons may be under threat in these austere times, but this evening’s Prom with the Arab-Israeli East-Western Divan Orchestra showed the power of making music to transform lives.
Wednesday
Fears for the Forest folk
It was International Orang-utan Day, which aimed to raise awareness of the poaching that is threatening the “people of the forest” (the meaning of the word “orang-utan”, translated from the Malay).
Thursday
Going through the emotions
Tears, triumphs and tantrums - all were on display during GCSE results day in England and Wales (and that was just the teachers). Thousands of children headed to school to find out their all-important grades.
Friday
The fight goes on
History isn’t always told by the winners. Soon after a tribunal exonerated the British Army for the “Bloody Sunday” massacre, on this day in 1973 a inquest accused those involved of “sheer unadulterated murder”.
22-28 August 2015
Saturday
The best at the nest
Team GB will star at Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” stadium as the biennial World Championships in athletics begin. First up is the marathon - not as gruelling as a year spent teaching, but still 26.2 miles of pain.
Sunday
Chairmen of the board
It’s not just bodies that need exercise but brains, too - and the Mind Sports Olympiad, opening today in London, will take contestants to the limit over a week of fiercely fought board game battles.
Monday
Prints among men
Already bored of photocopying? Spare a thought for the printers of the Gutenberg Bible, which completed its first print run on this day in 1456: they had to set each letter by hand before the presses could run.
Tuesday
To infinity and beyond
Three years ago, the Voyager 1 probe became the first man-made object to pass into interstellar space. It is now more than 12 billion miles away and carries a CD containing images and sounds from Earth.
Wednesday
Spaniards see red
In the streets of Buol, Spain, thousands of people will pelt more than 100 tonnes of ripe, red tomatoes during La Tomatina, a festival to celebrate the harvest. And you thought lunch duty was messy.
Thursday
Lord of the Finns
J R R Tolkien was only 23 when he wrote The Story of Kullervo. It’s based on an ancient Finnish poem and it will be published for the first time today. Surely the first scheme of work can’t be far behind.
Friday
Get the suffra-gist
Want to teach pupils the power of protest? Tell them about this day in 1917, when a group of US suffragettes was arrested for campaigning outside the White House. Three years later, women got the vote.
