Latest news with #500Words
Telegraph
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Queen reveals tough time with reading at night
The Queen, who has enjoyed a lifelong passion for reading, has admitted that at night she now struggles to read more than two pages before falling asleep. In a comment that will resonate with many, Her Majesty, 77, said that these days, when she eventually falls into bed, she is so tired she cannot concentrate. Asked at the final of a national writing competition whether she still found the time to read, the Queen replied: 'I do when I have a holiday.' She added: 'I do try occasionally to read at night but I read two pages and fall asleep and have to start again.' The Queen founded her own online book club, The Queen's Reading Room, and often campaigns on the power of literacy. At the final of the BBC's annual 500 Words awards ceremony, held at Buckingham Palace, she hailed the young winners as the 'writers of the future'. The ceremony celebrated the achievements of six winners across two age categories, five to seven and eight to 11, with recognition given to gold, silver, and bronze medalists in each group. The Queen presented them with medals before they were escorted back to their seats by Gladiators Nitro, whose real name is Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, and Fire, real name Montell Douglas. The young finalists had their entries read in the palace's ballroom by a group of celebrities, including Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman, comedian Matt Lucas, McFly's Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher, actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, comic actor Rob Brydon and JLS's JB Gill. The event took place earlier this month but was broadcast during a special episode of The One Show on Thursday to mark World Book Day. The Queen fell in love with reading at a young age, inspiring a lifelong love of literature that she has partly attributed to Mark Shand, her late father, who frequently read to her. She has visited schools and libraries, as well as workplaces and prisons to see the work of adult literacy schemes. As Duchess of Cornwall, she became patron of several organisations which promote and support literacy including the National Literacy Trust, First Story, Coram Beanstalk and Booktrust.
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Celebrating homegrown storytelling: Winners unveiled for BBC's 500 Words competition
The winners of the UK's most successful children's writing competition, 500 Words, have been unveiled on World Book Day® in a special episode of The One Show - 500 Words with The One Show – hosted by Alex Jones and Roman Kemp on BBC One and iPlayer. From thousands of entries, six exceptional young authors who submitted their stories to the BBC's 500 words competition were crowned last week at the Grand Final in Buckingham Palace, with their identities kept secret until the big reveal on today's special edition of The One Show. Her Majesty The Queen invited celebrity readers Olivia Colman, Rob Brydon, Matt Lucas, Rose Ayling-Ellis, JB Gill and McFly bandmates Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones to Buckingham Palace for the final event, opened by a special performance from the cast of Oliver! the musical. All the excitement from the event, including the live performances by celebrity readers of the winning stories, will be available to watch on CBBC at 4pm Friday 7 March. The judges for this year's competition were Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson, Olivia Dean and Malorie Blackman, chaired by The One Show's Alex Jones. The winning stories have also been illustrated by children's illustrators, framed, and put into a BBC 500 Words winners' book. Speaking at the Grand Final, Her Majesty The Queen said: 'I know from meeting the judges that they have had an almost impossible job – and from the illustrators that they have had an extremely enjoyable one! I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has contributed to this very special BBC 500 Words competition.' BBC Head of Education, Helen Foulkes said: 'BBC 500 Words is all about encouraging children from across the UK to enjoy writing and bringing people together to celebrate children's boundless creativity. We encourage every child to write a story they would love to read with no need to worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar. We hope everyone who entered continues to enjoy storytelling.' The six winners were chosen from two age group categories, ages 5-7 and 8-11 with each consisting of gold, silver and bronze awards. 500 Words Gold Winners The GOLD Winner for 5-7 age group is Harvey from Kent, his story, Bruce's Big Choice was read by actor and comedian Matt Lucas. Harvey said: 'Nice stories are lovely, but gruesome and scary stories are better!' The GOLD Winner for the 8-11 age group is Theo from Greater Manchester, his story, A New Harmony was read by actor and comedian, Rob Brydon. Theo said: 'My story was inspired by a love of music. When I read my story to my family, they loved it, especially the dramatic bits.' 500 Words Silver Winners The SILVER Winner for the 5-7 age group is Michael from Surrey, his story, Thumbed Cat was read by McFly duo, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones. The SILVER Winner for the 8-11 age group was Blake from Derbyshire, his story, The Transformation was read by singer and presenter JB Gill. 500 Words Bronze Winners The BRONZE Winner for the 5-7 age group was Dylan from Cheshire, his story My Name is Jack was read by actor Rose Ayling-Ellis. The BRONZE Winner for the 8-11 age group was Ash from Greater Manchester, his story A TRAM-atic Journey was read by actor, Olivia Colman. Each of the finalists' stories are available to read now on the BBC Teach website, alongside audio versions which have been voiced specially by BBC Radio Drama Actors. Notes The children's illustrators who have contributed to the BBC 500 Words winners' book are Momoko Abe, Dapo Adeola, Rob Biddulph, Yasmeen Ismail, Lydia Monks and Nigel Parkinson. BBC Teach run 500 Words in partnership with: Anderson Press, Beano, EFL in the Community, HeadteacherChat, Libraries Connected, National Book Tokens, National Literacy Trust, Oxford University Press, Pobble, Premier League Primary Stars, Publishers Association, The Reading Agency and World Book Day. HH
The Independent
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Queen welcomes stars to palace for young writers' competition
The Queen welcomed a star-studded line-up to Buckingham Palace for the final of a national writing competition, including Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman, comedian Matt Lucas, and two Gladiators dressed in Lycra. The BBC 500 Words competition, which received almost 44,000 entries, encourages children of all abilities from across the UK to write. Before the final on Wednesday, Camilla met BBC executives, hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp, and judges comedian Sir Lenny Henry, screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Noughts And Crosses writer Malorie Blackman, Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon and actor Charlie Higson. The Queen presented the medals and the winners will be announced during a special episode of the BBC's The One Show on March 6, World Book Day. The young finalists had their entries read in the palace's ballroom by a group of celebrities who included Colman, Lucas, McFly's Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher, and actress Rose Ayling-Ellis. Camilla gave a speech at the final, during which she said: 'Some decades ago, a famous author said this: 'You can make anything by writing'. He was quite right. 'By his writing, this man made many things: a wintry land that could only be entered through a wardrobe, mysterious creatures that could talk and play the flute, boxes of enchanted Turkish Delight and a lion whose roar could break spells. 'He was, of course, CS Lewis, whose The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe was published exactly 75 years ago. 'Just like CS Lewis, you have proved through this competition that 'you can make anything by writing'.' The stars met Camilla after the final and she chatted about Strictly Come Dancing with Fletcher, who told her he had competed in the same year as Ayling-Ellis, but 'didn't do quite as well'. Speaking to Lucas, the Queen praised the 'fantastic' stories the children had written, and he replied: 'I need to up my game as a writer, I'm very fearful,' adding 'they're all going to overtake me'. Camilla said she hoped the children will keep on writing. The One Show's Alex Jones introduced the Gladiators to the Queen, saying 'then we have Harry, but you might know him as Nitro', which was met with laughter. Nitro told the Queen that the Gladiators 'seem to have such a pull with these young children, which is amazing'. After the recording of the final in the ballroom, Camilla hosted a reception in the picture gallery. After the final, Sir Lenny told reporters that for the children it was 'sort of the most extraordinary day ever'. He said: 'What a great day, is my big thought, to stand here with the Queen and watching all these kids from all over Britain arrive to the ballroom is a wonderful thing, and you can see their eyes, they're like, 'what, I was in my living room this morning, and now here I am'. 'It's sort of the most extraordinary day ever.' He added that the Queen promoting literacy was 'good', saying: 'We need public figures to promote literacy in this country, because we want kids to read more.' Asked what his thoughts on audio books were, he said: 'As somebody who listened to all of Treasure Island from London to Cornwall once, with my daughter, I think that anything that draws a child into listening to a story and wanting to know what happens next is brilliant. We should support that.' Sir Lenny said: 'I've always loved reading, so I think it's one of the reasons why I am who I am, because I read all the time.' Higson, the author of the first novels in the Young Bond series, said he often wonders 'how I would have turned out if we had smartphones and computers and tablets when I was a kid, because I spent my whole time writing'. He added: 'It's so encouraging and exciting that kids still write stories, still enjoy stories and, you know, every year we get the package of the final 50 stories and you think, what are we going to get this year?' Higson said it was 'fantastic' that the Queen was promoting literacy, adding: 'She genuinely is passionate about it. 'She does a lot of work in that area. She used to read to her grandchildren.' He said the day must be 'very surreal' for the children. Asked for his thoughts on Amazon MGM Studios taking creative control of the 007 character, he said: 'Well, I think it's going to be really exciting to see what happens. I've got no inside information. 'Obviously, it would be lovely if they did consider doing something with my books. 'It's the start of a whole new chapter.' Asked if he was positive about it, he said: 'I think so, you know, as a Bond fan, you think, well, you know, let's get some more Bond stuff like that.' He said he thought there has been a 'slight problem' over the last 20 years where 'there hasn't quite been enough Bond coming out'. The Queen met children including Camilla Birkett, seven, from Reading, who said she spoke to the Queen about their names and how both of their dogs had recently died and they had both got new dogs. She said: 'She's called Camilla Rosemary and I'm called Camilla Rose.' Claire Birkett, Camilla's mother, said her daughter's conversation with the Queen was 'really lovely', adding: 'She told us that she totally understood how you would feel, and that her dog died too, and that she'd got a new puppy.' Nitro, whose real name is Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, said he met the late Queen Elizabeth II 'as Harry' at Buckingham Palace, adding: 'Last time I was dressed well and to be fair I did come dressed correctly, and once they told me that they wanted me in my outfit, I thought 'my oh gosh, I must have set history as surely I must be like the least-dressed man in this room'.' Since the competition was launched in 2011, by Chris Evans on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, it has received more than one million stories from children throughout the UK. The judges, with new judge, singer Olivia Dean, came together previously at Buckingham Palace, chaired by The One Show's Alex Jones, to read the stories and deliberate on the finalists. The ceremony celebrated the achievements of six winners from two age categories, five to seven and eight to 11, with recognition given to gold, silver, and bronze recipients in each group.
BBC News
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
BBC 500 Words Finalists celebrated at Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty The Queen
Today Buckingham Palace played host to the Grand Final of BBC 500 Words, the UK's most celebrated children's writing competition. 50 young literary talents were invited to a reception hosted by The Queen, in recognition of their remarkable stories. Her Majesty has a longstanding commitment to championing literacy and creative writing, supporting the 500 Words competition every year since 2015. The six outstanding winners of the competition were crowned, with their identities to be revealed in a special episode of The One Show airing on World Book Day® (7pm, Thursday 6 March, BBC One and iPlayer). Audiences will be transported to Buckingham Palace where this momentous occasion was captured on film today. Her Majesty invited a host of celebrity readers including Olivia Colman, McFly's Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, Matt Lucas, Rose Ayling-Ellis, JB Gill and Rob Brydon to Buckingham Palace for this special episode of The One Show with Alex Jones and Roman Kemp. 500 Word judges, Sir Lenny Henry, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson, and Malorie Blackman also attended the special event. Gladiators Fire and Nitro were also on hand to help celebrate the finalists. Each of the finalist's stories are available to read now on the BBC Teach website, alongside audio versions recorded by the BBC Radio Drama Company. Notes • At the event, the bronze, silver and gold winners of both age groups, 5-7 and 8-11, received a selection of exciting prizes, including having their stories read by famous faces and a bundle of books to help continue their love of the written word. • The two gold winners received the height of judge, Sir Lenny Henry, in books and 500 books for their schools. • Silver winners received the height of Her Majesty in books, and bronze winners received the average height of a 7 or 11-year-old in books. • All of their stories have been illustrated by children's illustrators, framed, and put into a 500 Words winners' book. The illustrators, co-ordinated by Anderson Press, are Momoko Abe, Dapo Adeola, Rob Biddulph, Yasmeen Ismail, Lydia Monks and Nigel Parkinson. • BBC Teach run 500 Words in partnership with: Anderson Press, Beano, EFL in the Community, HeadteacherChat, Libraries Connected, National Book Tokens, National Literacy Trust, Oxford University Press, Pobble, Premier League Primary Stars, Publishers Association, The Reading Agency and World Book Day. • All the excitement from entire event, including the live performances by celebrity readers of the winning stories, will be available to watch in an hour-long 500 Words programme on CBBC and iPlayer (4pm, Friday 7 March). HH
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Queen meets young creators on visit to children's theatre
The Queen has celebrated the work of a children's theatre she visited with her grandchildren. Camilla toured the Unicorn Theatre that began as a mobile playhouse founded by Caryl Jenner in 1949 and met youngsters providing creative inputs into new productions. Stage and screen actor Rory Kinnear, best know for his appearances in the James Bond franchise, chatted to the Queen after she met school children who have helped with the forthcoming play Pig Heart Boy. Kinnear, a creative ambassador at the central London theatre, said: 'It's somewhere I used to bring my kids when they were small and I still bring my youngest and we were talking about how she used to bring her grandchildren, but we're both at the point where they're almost too old. 'But it's a wonderful place for not only entertaining kids but inspiring that first taste of creativity and imagination for so many people.' During the visit the Queen watched a stage presentation by the children involved with Pig Heart Boy adapted for the stage from a book written by former Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman. The book tells the story of Cameron, a teenager who undergoes a heart transplant from a pig, and the author said: 'I think there is absolutely room for challenging content and content that hopefully makes children think what they would do if they found themselves in Cameron's shoes. 'What I hope I'm doing in my books is opening up debate and discussion. 'It's never my intention to say this is right or this is wrong – what I do is say is 'this is this person's life, what would you do if you were in their shoes'.' The author has judged the BBC's 500 Words children's writing competition supported by the Queen, and said it was 'tragic' libraries across the country had closed, adding 'it's mandatory to have libraries in prisons but not mandatory to have them in schools, that's just bizarre to me'. Camilla also chatted to Kim Behling and partner George Multescu, who had brought the eldest of their three children to workshops to help develop a Unicorn production of the Princess And The Pea. Ms Behling later described how her five-year-old son Theodore and other children tried out piles of mattresses for the storyline – and even recorded sound effects, adding: 'It was an amazing opportunity for the family.'
