Royal baby due now

The newspapers are getting excited about the birth of a new royal baby, a brother or sister for Prince George.

Reporters are guessing that the baby is due to be born around now, but no date has officially been given. However, this week parking outside the hospital where Prince George was born has been banned, and the Duchess of Cambridge has stopped doing royal appearances.

Hotel fire caused by cooking

The Randolph Hotel in Oxford was badly damaged by fire last week. Now the cause of the fire has been explained: too much brandy in a recipe.

Michael Grange, the hotel's manager, said chefs were preparing a beef stroganoff in the traditional way. This involves putting brandy in the pan and then setting fire to it. The fire seems to have got out of the pan and into the kitchen. The chefs put the kitchen fire out, but it travelled up the chimneys above the stoves and got into the fourth floor.

The manager said that there was a wedding party staying in the hotel. All their clothes and wedding 

rings had to be rescued from their rooms by firemen.

Harry Potter and the disappearing children

One of the adult actors in the Harry Potter films has explained that the children playing Harry, Ron and Hermione in the first two films were sometimes replaced by "very small adults in wigs".

Alan Rickman, who played Snape, says laws about children working meant that in the early films the young actors had to spend a lot of time resting or doing their school work. To save time, this meant shots of Harry, Hermione and Ron talking to adults were filmed in two parts. The children would be filmed in close up, but would be replaced in other parts of the scene by small adults only seen from the back.

New film about the Queen

On the night the Second World War ended, the Queen and her younger sister were allowed to leave Buckingham Palace and join the celebrating crowds in London. 

Now a film has been made about this event 70 years ago. 

The man who was with Princess Elizabeth that night told a friend that they joined crowds outside Buckingham Palace to see the then King and Queen come out on a balcony, and went round London streets with the people celebrating. Nobody recognised either of the princesses. 

The film does not quite tell this story. It shows the Princess going on a bus, driving a car very fast to Buckingham Palace, and inviting a young man back for breakfast. People who write about the Royal Family do not think the film is based on what really happened.