Light News – Week 3: ‘Pink Floyd’ pub, half marathons, and giant spiders
Varsity gives you the rundown of some of the lighter news as we enter Week 3
Appeal to save ‘Pink Floyd’ Flying Pig pub in Cambridge
An appeal has been launched to save the Flying Pig pub on Hills Road from demolition.
The pub is said to be the location where Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett met the band’s guitarist, David Gilmour, in the 1950s.
In 2007, the council approved plans for the pub to be demolished and replaced by 156 residential units, offices and retail units. However, nearly 14,000 people signed a petition asking for the pub to be saved in 2019.
Pace Limited, the company behind the proposed developments, appealed to the city council to keep parts of the pub and build two more office blocks, but in March this year the council refused.
Pace Limited are now appealing the council’s decision.
In a statement, Pace said: “The plans would have seen the Flying Pig preserved and enhanced with greater accessibility so that everyone in Cambridge and further afield could visit this popular free house, and live music venue.
"A successful appeal will protect and preserve the Flying Pig,"
A decision regarding the fate of the Flying Pig is expected to be made next year.
9,500 take part in TTP Cambridge Half Marathon
The TTP Cambridge Half Marathon took place last Sunday (17/10) as part of Cambridge’s ‘Festival of Running’,
The marathon was a sell-out event, with around 9,500 runners taking part.
The route began and ended on Midsummer Common, passing through King’s College, the Backs, the Fitzwilliam Museum and Jesus College.
The event raised thousands of pounds for various charities, including the headline charity partner, Cancer Research UK.
The Charlie Walker Trust, a mental health charity, had 50 runners taking part, including Rick, a Cambridge University graduate and Chair of Trustees for the charity.
“Cambridge holds a very special place in my heart and I can’t think of a better and more inspiring setting to run a half marathon.” he said.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support we get from the whole Cambridge community in this fantastic event which has become a really important fundraiser for the Charlie Waller Trust.”
Pre-registration for next years’ marathon has already opened.
Fabulous photos from @acambridgediary
- TTP Cambridge Half Marathon (@CambridgeHalfUK) October 20, 2021
We love to see all of the smiling faces! 🏅 https://t.co/EMnQ4zhDv4
7-inch ‘spider’ found in Cambridge home
A Cambridge resident was shocked to find a 7-inch long ‘spider’ on her kitchen wall.
Alina gained lots of social media attention after posting a picture of the daddy long legs online.
Users described it as “daddy long legs on steroids” and “daddy very very long legs.”
However, according to spider expert Professor Adam Hart, the arachnid is “not actually a spider”, but part of the “Opiliones” group, more commonly known as Harvestmen,
Harvestmen are “totally harmless” and “usually look like raisins with long spindly legs,” he said.
“Unlike spiders that have that big chunky ‘back end’ and the front part where the legs are, they don’t have two sections to their body.”
The animal has now been released back into the wild.
Daddy VERY long legs 😳
- Norgie Pal 🇬🇧 😍🇳🇴 (@NorgiePaul) October 16, 2021
Horrified homeowner finds GIANT 7-inch arachnid on her kitchen wall
Alina, from #Cambridge found the giant daddy long legs.
The insect is a #harvestman also commonly referred to as a daddy long legs.
Quick @fauxbelle bring a broom 😆👊 pic.twitter.com/PCRt31QxFA
AI ranks Cambridge as one of the happiest spots in the UK
Cambridge is the seventh happiest city in the UK, according to new research.
The ranking was determined by the Microsoft Azure facial recognition tool, which analysed over 300,000 Instagram geotagged photos to find out how happy people are in different locations across the world.
The tool works by scanning geotagged Instagram photos with the hashtag “selfie”, and detecting different emotions, including happiness, anger, surprise, sadness and neutral.
It then provides a score based on the relative prevalence of these facial expressions in each photo, and from this researchers can find the average score for each location in the UK. These scores were compared across the country to demonstrate which locations are the happiest.
The photos of people in Cambridge were assessed as being 59.6% happier than the national average, meaning that the city ranked first in the East of England category.
Peterborough has a high happiness level 😊https://t.co/PneGIIojgb
- Cambridgeshire Live (@Cambslive) October 16, 2021
Cambridge University is one of the best for creative students, says new research
A study has found that the University of Cambridge produces some of the best paid graduates from creative courses.
Students undertaking creative courses at Cambridge can expect to earn an annual salary of £26,500 on average after graduating.
Cambridge ranked joint-third for best-paid graduate salaries, alongside Royal Holloway and the University of Surrey.
This could be useful for students wondering where to go https://t.co/5XxbLRnCeI
- Cambridgeshire Live (@Cambslive) October 18, 2021
Despite this, Cambridge only came 26th in the overall rankings, which took other factors into account. These factors include the number of students enrolled in creative arts and design courses, as well as the percentage of students taking creative courses.
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