Reader's Digest UK June 2022

Welcome to our special Diamond Jubilee issue, celebrating the remarkable legacy of the longest-reigning British monarch and longest-serving female head of state in history, Queen Elizabeth II. On p54, we revisit a 1945 Life magazine article profiling the young Elizabeth before she became the queen. Written at the end of the Second World War, it’s a fascinating insight into how the public viewed this ambitious young woman on the cusp of entering an extraordinary lifetime of duty. On p114, you’ll find a Jubilee baking special—your guide to making the tastiest celebratory treats; and on p118, we take a look at a dynamic new documentary on the Queen, bursting with meticulously researched archive footage and special guests. Eva As people across the world fight to combat the damage we’re doing to our planet, solutions to…

We pay £50 for Letter of the Month and £30 for all others LETTER OF THE MONTH I totally agreed with Roger Black’s suggestion to launch a buddy-up system for young and old to reduce isolation from the “If I Ruled The World” feature in your April magazine. When I worked at a charity for the elderly, we arranged a few intergenerational tea events between elderly people and school children and the benefits for both young and old were clear to see. The smiles between both generations while chatting, and the interest shown in each other was deeply moving, especially the hugs and laughter throughout the day. Each generation can stand to learn a lot from each other, and I think that regular intergenerational events in our schools and communities would be a great…

Small children cause amnesia. Ask anybody who possesses a car seat to hold forth on their current phase of child-rearing, and they’ll wax lyrical about warming up milk bottles, or baby-proofing the house, or teaching phonemes, or which holiday camp is best. Ask them three months later—when their kid has moved on to the next stage of life—and they’ll draw a blank. They’ll have no idea. They will literally not remember the very issues that, just a few weeks earlier, had been the bread-and-butter of their parenting. So it is when it comes to potty training. I’ve already been through it once—well, twice, if you include my own personal transition to drier bedsheets—and yet I simply cannot remember the details of how it’s achieved. My eldest son, Harvey, now six, can…

THE DAY BEFORE we meet, Juliette Binoche was in the French Alps. Today, she’s reclining in a suite in Berlin’s Hotel Marriott, dressed in scarlet trousers, a white blouse and eye-catching silver platforms. “We arrived last night at 12,” she says, casually brushing off her hectic schedule. It’s been this way for four decades now, ever since she blew up at the Cannes Film Festival as a 21-year-old, starring in 1985’s Rendez-vous as—guess what?—a would-be actress. The film was a sensation and “La Binoche”, as the French call her, was born. “Before that, people didn’t know me,” she reflects now. “I had roles here and there—with great directors, of course—but they didn’t really take off. You have to have the role in order to take off.” And take off she did.…

MY BEDROOM WINDOW OVERLOOKED A BOMB SITE. Because my dad was a returning prisoner of war, he got our house in Fulham at a controlled rent. Out of my window I could see the remains of about six houses overgrown with weeds, but with lots of ghostly staircases and features still there. My brother, Pete, who’s seven years older than me, and I were warned never to play on the bomb site because of the possibility of unexploded ordnance. Still, on Bonfire Night a massive bonfire would be built there and our windows would get so hot that they’d actually start to bend and move. It usually ended with the fire department being called. I WAS BORN WITH SCOLIOSIS [A CURVATURE OF THE SPINE] AND I’VE GOT THE THUMB MISSING ON MY…

“You’re coming through my hearing aids!” laughs Lynne Kingston as she enthuses on the phone about the little devices that have changed her life. The 57-year-old from Kent had been aware of her deteriorating hearing for at least 15 years, from as young as her early forties. She constantly asked people to repeat themselves. Noisy restaurants, parties, and the telephone were a nightmare for Kingston, who runs a student accommodation rental business. “I do most of my work on the phone,” she says. “I had to put it on speakerphone, which meant everyone else could hear.” About ten years ago she consulted a hearing specialist and tried basic hearing aids, but soon gave up. While they amplified all the sounds around her, she still couldn’t make out the ones she needed to…