5 things you need to know about today, Friday 17 March 2023

As Liverpool celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in style with parties happening across the city and Disney On Ice skates its way into the M&S Bank Arena we also take a look at some of the other talking points from the city and across the UK.

Alison Hammond is the new host of Great British Bake Off

Alison Hammond has announced she will become the new co-host of The Great British Bake Off.

The This Morning presenter, 48, will join forces with comedian Noel Fielding in the next series of the popular Channel 4 baking show.

Alison is replacing comedian Matt Lucas who revealed in December he was stepping down from the presenting role as he could no longer commit to the programme’s schedule alongside his other projects.

Half a million people attended Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day parade

A sea of green made up of half a million people descended on Dublin City centre for a St Patrick’s Day parade that organisers predicted would be “the biggest and best”.

Celebrations took place across the island of Ireland with massive crowds turning out to mark March 17 in towns and cities.

Many more watched Dublin’s 2023 parade, featuring 4,200 performers including marching bands, aerial acrobats and vibrant costumes, live on television.

Parade attendees showed up in leprechaun hats, dyed-green beards and emerald scarves.

Along the busy parade barrier, children were perched on the shoulders of their parents to get a view of colourful dancers, brass bands and carefully constructed floats.

The new series of The Crown is being filmed and the actors playing William and Kate have been spotted

The actors who play the Prince and Princess of Wales as university students in The Crown have been spotted filming together in St Andrews.

Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy were being filmed as William and Kate in the Fife seaside town on Friday.

Bellamy was dressed in clothes that would not have been out of place in the early 2000s – when the couple attended the university – including bootcut jeans with a pleated leather belt, and high-heeled suede boots.

The new series will follow events from the late 1990s until the early 2000s, including the death of William’s mother Diana.

In the series, Elizabeth Debicki will reprise her role as Diana, with Imelda Staunton continuing as the Queen and Jonathan Pryce as the Duke of Edinburgh.The last series chronicled the divorce of Charles and Diana.

It was due to end after the fifth series, but the show’s creator and writer Peter Morgan later said it would be extended to a sixth.

Liverpool has been named 6th best city in the world to study

Liverpool is named the joint-sixth best city to study in across the globe, scoring 54 out of a possible 100.

Scores were determined across 7 factors for each city, including the Number of Universities, Average University Score, Average International Students, Cost of Living, Freedom, Safety, and Friendliness.

Overall, the United Kingdom ranked 7th for countries worldwide, while Japan & South Korea both came 1st.  

Helpful Professor did the research taking into account over 1,300 universities across 339 cities in 85 countries.

Liverpool’s score of 54 puts it in sixth place, tying with Copenhagen, Munich, Sydney, and their famous rivals in Manchester.

Steven Gerrard added to LFC Legends squad for Celtic clash at Anfield

Steven Gerrard will return to Anfield next weekend to represent Liverpool FC Legends against Celtic Legends.

The Reds icon is the latest addition to Sir Kenny Dalglish’s collection of former players that will feature in the LFC Foundation Official Legends charity match, presented by AXA and brought to you in association with Forever Reds, LFC’s official former players association.  

Gerrard and his teammates take on their Celtic counterparts in L4 on Saturday March 25, with kick-off scheduled for 3pm GMT. 

Tickets for the game – priced at £27 for adults, £7 for juniors and £17 for over 65s – are still on sale and can be bought online here. Disabled supporters can visit the Accessibility Hub for full sale details. 

One hundred per cent of the proceeds raised will support a range of LFC Foundation’s and partner charities’ programmes, including schools, inclusive sports, social action, health and wellbeing, and food poverty.

Supporters can also watch the match live via the club’s official Facebook and YouTube channels, while existing subscribers can also tune in on LFCTV and LFCTV GO.