1082

April 18 - 24 2012 No. 1082

THE WEEKLY WORLD EDITION OF The Daily Telegraph AND The Sunday Telegraph telegraph.co.uk/expat

The Telegraph

Olivier Award for the four Matildas

THEY have Pop-Tarts rather than champagne in their dressing room, and never attend celebrity parties, which are past their bedtime.

But the four young stars who share the title role in Matilda the Musical were the toast of the West End on Sunday night, after all being named Best Actress in a Musical at the Olivier Awards.

Their most junior member, 10-year-old Eleanor Worthington Cox, from Merseyside, is the youngest Olivier winner in history. Fellow winner Cleo Demetriou is also 10, but older than Eleanor by a matter of weeks. The two other Matildas, Kerry Ingram and Sophia Kiely, are both 12.

The Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale about a bookish little girl with special powers won seven awards in total — beating the record of six awards for a single show, set by The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby in 1980.

Tim Minchin, who adapted the children’s book for the stage, accepted the award for Best New Musical.

Its other wins were Best Actor in a Musical for Bertie Carvel as the headmistress Miss Trunchbull; Best Director for Matthew Warchus, along with awards for choreography, set

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Winners: ‘Matilda’ stars Sophia Kiely,

Eleanor Worthington Cox, Kerry Ingram and

Cleo Demetriou

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By James Hall HALF of Britain is now in drought, as the country faces its most severe water shortage since 1976, the Environment Agency warned on Monday.

More than 35million people are now living in drought-affected areas, with water shortages declared on Monday across the Midlands and South West.

Parts of the country are already drier than they were in the summer of 1976, when Britain experienced its worst drought for more than 100 years.

The drought of 1976 led to standpipes being installed in residential streets, water supplies to businesses being rationed and schools having to close early.

The Environment Agency says similar measures are unlikely to be enforced this summer, but warns the dry conditions will damage the environment and lead to widespread water restrictions.

“The lack of rain is taking its toll on the environment and farmers – causing problems for wildlife, wetlands and crop production,” a spokesman said.

“Companies and consumers must all play their part by using water wisely to help conserve supplies.”

According to the Agency, an area is in drought when the lack of rainfall has a “material effect on the environment”.

Drought has already been declared across London, East Anglia and the South after the eighth-driest year on record, affecting more than 20million people and leading to water restrictions. On Monday, the Environment Agency announced that 17 counties across the South West and the Midlands are now in drought, affecting a further 15million people. While water companies in the new drought areas say they have no plans to introduce hosepipe bans, they are urging customers to conserve water.

Dr Barnaby Smith, an executive at the government-funded Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said that in parts of England, river levels are lower than they were in April 1976. East Anglia is thought to be the most badly affected area. “There are parts of the country that are, for the time of year, in a worse position than in 1976, hydrologically speaking,” said Dr Smith.

Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, is urging households to cut back on the amount of water they use.

“As more areas of the UK move into drought it is vital that we use less water to protect the public’s water supply in the driest areas of the country,” she said. “It is for everyone to share the responsibility to save water. We are asking everyone to help by using less water and starting now.”

The drought is so severe in parts of Britain that plans are being drawn up to trade water between two regions for the first time, to supply more than 100,000 homes in the worst-hit areas.

Ciaran Nelson, a spokesman for Anglian Water, said constant rainfall was needed “for weeks if not months” to reverse the situation: “We’ve had less rainfall in the last 18 months than ever in the last century,” he said.

Anglers and environmentalists fear the Severn, which is experiencing a “dire” lack of rainfall, could be reduced to a “trickle” within months. The chairman of Shropshire Anglers Federation, Sir John Roberts, also said that over the past five years, general rainfall levels have fallen: “Last year was bad but this year is worse because we haven’t had the rain through the winter.”

Wildlife campaigners said that if the conditions continue, plants and animals that rely on the 220-mile waterway for survival will be endangered.

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