News In Brief
Did the earth move for you?
Hundreds of Cambridge residents woke with a scare in the early hours of Wednesday morning as the UK was hit by an earthquake. The earthquake, which began just before 1am, was one of the biggest to be recorded in the UK in recent years. The British Geological Survey (BGS) initially gave the magnitude for the earthquake as 5.3 on the Richter scale but later said it was closer to 5.2. Its epicentre was near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, but the tremor was felt across the country, as far away as Bangor in Northern Ireland in the west and Edinburgh in the north. Many Cambridge students felt the quake. One final year classicist, who was lying awake listening to Radio 4 at the time, was very disturbed by the tremor “All my stuff was shaking on the shelves, it was very bizarre. I thought an animal had got into my room or something.”
Isabel Shapiro
Chef of the Year Winner
A Cambridge chef has won the prestigious Chef of the Year event run by the University Caterers’ Association. Stephen Mather beat chefs from eight other universities to take the gold medal in the event with his menu of scallop, courgette and lemon risotto, rack of lamb in herb and honey glaze, and apple soufflé with scrumpy cider yoghurt ice cream. The competition was judged by a panel of celebrity chefs including former Chef of the Year Kevin Viner. Stephen said, “It was a gruelling day which started at 4am, when we picked herbs from the college gardens. We faced some really strong competition but fortunately our menu came out on top. “The Chairman of the Cambridge College Catering Managers Kevin Keohane said, “Stephen has turned in an awesome performance – it’s great news for the Cambridge colleges, and Sidney Sussex in particular.”
Clementine Dowley
Heartbreaker
A University study has shown that thousands more people could die from heart attacks if more banks suffer a crisis like Northern Rock. Cambridge researchers found that a nationwide banking crisis could prompt as many as 5000 more fatal heart attacks annually. The team found that when a financial crisis hit a developed country heart attacks rose by 6.4%, and that cardiac related deaths surged “briefly and regularly” every time there was a systemic bank failure.
Isabel Shapiro
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