The Week Junior UK – 03 August 2019

People

3August 201 •

Achievingyour goals

C

raig McManus’scareer asaprofessional footballer
ended at the age of 25. Shortly after that, he
became homeless after his parents died. Then his
luck changed. In 2015, hewasasked to play for and
captainTeam Scotland at the HomelessWorld Cup
–aninternational f
competition for peo
arehomeless. Its ai
use football to impr
people’slives.
Captaining his
countrywasone
of the proudest
moments of
McManus’slife,
and this year he
is returning to the
tournament as m
of Team England.
being held in Car
from 27 July to 3
McManus says th
contest made
him believe in hi
and allows peopl
“grow and create
MATHEWpositiverelations

PARRI THOMAS

·ALAMY

·REX SHUTTERSTOCK

·VGRIGAS

CC
BY-SA 3.

The chicken whisperer

I

rene Fleming loves chatting to the three chickens

that live at hercarehome in NorthYorkshire. As sh

says, “They look at me as though they know what I’m

saying.”Fleming, aged 93,regularly speakstoDolly,

Nancy andPenny,and has been nicknamed The

Chicken Whisperer by hercarers. She says the hens

d her of when she worked onafarm during the

d WorldWar(1939–45) as part ofagroup

theWomen’sLand Army.She adds, “Out in the

Army,Iused to talk to any animal thatIhad to

after.I’d ask how they were, had they been

ing, had they hadapoo.”

9

I

fJimmyWales had to sum himself up in two

words, they would be “geeky” and “friendly”.

“I think it’sagood thing to be geeky,”hetold

TheWeek Junior.“I’vealways loved science

and history and things likethat.”

Growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, in the

US,Waleswasfascinated by the work of the

scientists and engineers at the nearby NASA

(the US spaceagency) base. Thiswaswhere

NASA developed therockets that first took

humans to the Moon in 1969. His homewas

close enough to the base that the windows

would shakewhenrockets w

tested. Itwasanexciting tim

andWaleswasinspired by

whatcould be achieved by

many people working

together to achieveasingle,

incredible goal.

Years later,Wales felt the

sameexcitement about the

internet and how it might be

used to bring people from all

over the world together to cre

something new.On15Janua

2001, he typed “HelloWorld”

new website. With those tw

Wikipedia–one of the most-viewed websites

ever–was launched.

Wikipedia is an enormous free online

encyclopedia thatcanbewritten and edited

by anyone. It has millions of entries in more

than 290 languages and is, asWales puts it,

“a permanent work in progress”.The subjects

of the entriesrange from serious scientific

theories to one ofWales’spersonalfavourites

–apage dedicated to fictional pigs that have

featured in books,comics, films and TV shows.

Wikipedia’ssuccess has led toWales

one of the world’smost

l people. Although inventing

ia is his biggest claim tofame,

kes that singingSweetHome

aonalate-night TV show in

riacomesaclose second.

espite his success,Wales says

ivesavery normal life. He

s finding out new things and

joysreading his daughter’s

py ofTheWeek Junior.He

loveshis job, adding “I am

very lucky. Iget up every day

and do the most interesting

hingIcan think of.”

JimmyWalesusedpeoplepowertob ringinformationtoeveryone.

Aworld of knowledge

BAD

TASTE

Incommonwith50%

of

ourreaders,

Walesdoesnot

likeMarmit

e(althoughhis

childrendo).Hethinksit

mightbebe

causehe

isn’tBritish.

JimmyWales

ere being

e

e

eate

ary

” ontoa

oword

becomingo

influent

Wikipe

Waleso

Alab

Bu

he l

lo e

en

o

Wikipediawas

created in 2001.

Fleming with one

of the chickens.

m

he

e

“You havetoengage kids in

readingforpleasure. This idea

of,‘My child’s onlyreading

comics, what doIdo?’ Easy.

Buy them morecomics.”

Author Malorie Blackmantalks about the importance

of showingyoung people the joys ofreading.

le w

is to

ove

na r

s

,

st.

to

mi

co

ll

La

McManus gets

ready foragame.