大象传媒

Today is the day. The Rugby World Cup finally gets underway tonight with an opening ceremony followed by the hosts, England against Fiji at Twickenham. Well, holders New Zealand are one of the favourites along with the hosts but England have only won the World Cup once - and that was twelve years ago in Australia. There were no less than seven Leicester Tigers in that winning squad! Martin Ballard has been hearing some memories of that day in Sydney with the key people involved - Head Coach Sir Clive Woodward, try scorer Jason Robinson and of course the Captain, Leicester Tigers legend Martin Johnson.
Also, within days the first refugees from camps bordering war torn Syria could start arriving in the UK. This afternoon officials on the front line in Leicester and Leicestershire will meet, to talk about how they can provide a new home for them. One refugee charity in the city says it's been overwhelmed with offers of help from people across Leicestershire.
And, as the sixth series of Downton Abbey gets underway this weekend, it seems our appetite for stories about the lives and loves of those living and working in the grand houses of the past hasn't abated. But for one woman in Leicester, the stories of the people upstairs and downstairs have a special resonance. When Melissa Lawrence was sorting through her late mother's possessions, she found a series of letters exchanged between her grandmother and a close friend - Ethel North. Ethel was a lady's maid to Lady Winfried Burghclere, a member of the Carnavon family - the true residents of Highclere Castle in Berkshire where Downton is filmed.