Britain's bestselling author
You may be surprised to find out that the author who sold most books in Britain last year is a chef, despite our reputation for bad food.
Sales of books by Jamie Oliver rose by 20 per cent last year, and three cooks were among the ten top selling authors for 2008. Many people in the UK are now more interested in cooking and eating good food.
Oliver, who has been asked to cook for world leaders at next week's G20 economic summit, campaigns for people to eat well. He has made sure children eat better school lunches and has tried to teach people in poor areas how to cook for their families. His best-selling book from last year is full of recipes to help people learn how to cook.
Britain's favourite television show
Lots of television viewers here are delighted because one of our funniest programmes has started a new series.
The Apprentice is a reality TV show where candidates are trying to win a job with the company of one of the UK's most famous businessmen, Sir Alan Sugar. It doesn't sound like good television. But it is.
The competitors live together for the 12 weeks of the competition, and each one says they are fantastic in business. Every week the competitors have a new business challenge. They often perform very badly and blame each other. Sir Alan and his colleagues are often very rude about the competitors, before deciding which one has to leave each week.
The newspapers write lots about each person taking part, and it is often the people who don't win who go on to succeed in business, or another television show.
More Queens on the way
Rules affecting the Royal family and religion may finally be about to change.
At present, any member of the Royal family who marries a Catholic must either get them to change their religion or remove themselves from any chance of becoming King or Queen. No other religions are affected in this way.
Another rule means that the King or Queen's eldest child does not necessarily inherit the throne. If the eldest child is a girl, and she has a younger brother, the boy will become King.
The Government is keen to change these rules, and is talking to the Royal Family about it. But any change will be complicated as countries from the British Commonwealth - such as Canada and Australia - also have to be consulted.
New lessons for elementary school children
Lessons for younger pupils may include more computer skills in the future.
The Government asked an education expert to review the lessons taught to children under 11, and he will officially announce his findings next month.
But newspapers have said that changes will mean children will learn more about internet services like Wikipedia and Twitter and will not have to learn so much UK history. Children may also learn about managing money and healthy eating.
If the newspaper stories are true there are likely to be a lot of arguments. Some people in the UK are worried that children do not learn enough traditional subjects such as our history.
by Susan Young - susan@englishuk.com
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