Netflix’s hit period romance Bridgerton has returned for a fourth season and fans want to know more about one of its most important features

Bridgerton has come back for an electrifying fourth season and fans want to know more about the ‘ton’.

Set in the Regency era in the first half of the 19th Century, the popular period drama based on the books by Julia Quinn follows a noble family finding love in London’s high society.

After eldest daughter Daphne (played by Phoebe Dynevor), and sons Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Colin’s (Luke Newton) time in the spotlight, this time Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) is taking centre stage.

Following a memorable meeting with a mysterious Lady in Silver at a masquerade ball, Benedict strikes up a hidden romance with new maid Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), unaware that they are one and the same.

Throughout the series there are frequent references to the ‘ton’, including local gossip being spread by Penelope aka Lady Whistledown (Nicola Coughlan) being referred to as the ‘talk of the ton’.

But what is Bridgerton’s ton?

During the Regency era, the ton simply referred to the upper echelons of society in London.

Whenever the aristocracy and wealthy elite gather in the court of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), they are collectively referred to as the ton as a shorthand for the most powerful and influential class of the capital.

The term originated in the 1800s and is actually derived from the French phrase ‘le bon ton’, which means good manners.

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Throughout the series, the ton gathers during the ‘season’, ie the spring and summer months, for luxurious balls and banquets.

One of the main focuses of these events was the ‘marriage mart’, a highly competitive and cutthroat period of the year where debutantes (unmarried daughters) of the family were announced as young women of marrying age.

While many young women were almost immediately wedded to the most rich and powerful bachelors, such as Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd), others take longer to find a match while some, including Eloise (Claudia Jessie), for now, swear off marriage for good.

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‘Dearest gentle reader’, as the fourth season of Bridgerton follows second son Benedict love story, there’s a way to watch this fairytale-like season for less.

Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan. This lets customers watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes the new season of Bridgerton.

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In Bridgerton’s fourth season, Benedict defies convention entirely after years of casual affairs when he strikes up a budding relationship with Sophie, a young woman of the servant class.

Assuming she’s a member of the ton when he meets her at the ball, Benedict has an impossible decision to make when he eventually discovers that the Lady in Silver is, in fact, Sophie and not a member of high society after all.

And before then, Benedict will have to make amends after insulting his secret paramour by asking her to be his mistress. Find out if they can bring their clandestine affair out into the light when the second half of season four drops later this month.

Bridgerton season 4, part 2 releases Thursday, 26th February on Netflix.

Entry to the school was restricted as a precaution

A small number of school children were turned away from a school in a Cambridgeshire town due to a threat in the area. Ernulf Academy were made aware of a “threat in the community” this morning (Wednesday, February 4).

Ernulf Academy took the precaution of restricting entry to the school. The school is in touch with the police and is following their advice.

Lessons at the school are continuing as normal. Ernulf Academy is keeping parents updated on the situation. The threat has not been disclosed.

A spokesperson for Ernulf Academy said: “This morning, we were made aware of a threat in the community and we have taken the precaution of restricting entry to the school. We are in touch with the police for their advice.

“Lessons are continuing as normal and the school is safe, calm and happy. We have procedures in place to respond to situations such as this and students have responded well to what has been asked of them.

“A small number of students were turned away from school this morning as the safety precaution took effect, we are sorry for any disruption caused by this.

“We are keeping parents and the local community updated whilst we take advice from the police. The safety of all our students and staff remains our top priority.”

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What are the “four horsemen” of separation?

1) Criticism

2) Contempt

3) Defensiveness

4) Stonewalling

Craig Spiers had been attending appointments at the GP surgery for five years before he learned he had cancer.

A dad-of-two was told by his GP to “go home and calm down” before being diagnosed with cancer.

Craig Spiers, 46, from Glasgow, said it took five years of doctor’s appointments before he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer of the small bowel in 2013. It has since spread to his liver and has also caused heart problems.

He said: “These visits didn’t get me anywhere and I was even told there was nothing wrong with me and that I had to go home and calm down as it was a result of stress from work.

“My cancer was invisible to the doctor.”

The dad is one of many patients whose stories have sparked a warning from a charity that those with an “invisible” cancer are being turned away by doctors and waiting years for a diagnosis.

There is an urgent need to ramp up the time it takes for people to be diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer – which impacts more than 6,000 people a year in England, Neuroendocrine Cancer UK (NCUK) said.

Neuroendocrine refers to a group of cancers that start in the nerve and gland cells that make and release hormones.

Analysis by NCUK suggests rates of the disease rose by 371 per cent between 1995 and 2018, compared to 116 per cent for other cancers in the same period – apart from non-melanoma skin cancer.

Diagnosis takes four-and-a-half years on average, the charity said, with almost half of patients not diagnosed at the first referral and 16 per cent of people returning more than 10 times before getting answers.

More than half of cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage.

There are two main types of neuroendocrine cancer: neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs), which are fast growing.

The disease can develop in different parts of the body, such as the stomach, bowel, pancreas and lungs.

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Symptoms include unexplained weight loss, tiredness, pain, diarrhoea, bloating, wind, heartburn, asthma-like symptoms, a flushing rash and a persistent cough.

Common misdiagnoses include irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, or menopause, experts said.

Gordon Brown, 62, is a GP from Ashby De-La-Zouch who “missed” his own cancer.

“I had been experiencing many seemingly benign symptoms but I never thought they were a result of neuroendocrine cancer,” he said.

“I did go to the hospital a couple of times complaining about the abdominal pain/diarrhoea but no one did a scan. I’d ask my GP colleagues for advice but everyone, including myself, felt that the symptoms were not significant enough.”

Lisa Walker, chief executive of NCUK, said: “A key part of the challenge of neuroendocrine cancer is that it doesn’t align with the common cancer narrative many expect.

“It doesn’t act or look like more known cancers and unlike others, it isn’t always about recovery or decline, it often requires people to live with it for many years. That is why we need a conversation that reflects the reality of the condition.

“Delays to diagnosis and inconsistent care cause serious and lasting harm. Precious time is lost, allowing the cancer to progress before people receive the treatment they need.

“Patients and families describe these experiences as isolating and frightening, leaving them without support when they need it most.

“This is unacceptable and requires urgent attention.”

Professor Raj Srirajaskanthan, a consultant gastroenterologist at King’s College Hospital, said: “In my years as a NET clinician, I have sat across from thousands of patients, and while every story is unique, they often share a hauntingly similar prologue.

“A large number have undergone a long and circuitous journey to their diagnosis, commonly being misdiagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, or menopause.

“This period of ‘not knowing’ is often marked by a sense of being unheard, as patients struggle to reconcile their debilitating symptoms with ‘normal’ test results.”

Prof Srirajaskanthan said managing NETs is “often a marathon, not a sprint”.

“Many of my patients have been undergoing treatment for over a decade,” he added.

Martyn Caplin, a professor of gastroenterology and neuroendocrine cancer at the Royal Free Hospital, said faster diagnosis can lead to more treatment options for patients, even if the disease cannot be removed surgically.

“Smaller volumes of neuroendocrine cancer are generally easier to manage than a more advanced disease, and larger tumours are more likely to cause significant symptoms, regardless of where they are in the body,” he added.

“Delays increase both the physical and emotional toll on patients and limit clinical options.”

When a silver-clad stranger admits she cannot dance at a masquerade ball in the first episode of Bridgerton’s new season, Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) is both entertained and mystified.

“A lady who cannot dance? Is this a part of the character you are playing tonight? A silver ingenue?” he asks Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). A lady of the Ton who is unequipped with the vital accomplishments for the “season”? Unthinkable. Today, we are no longer defined by our ability to dance, but in the world of Bridgerton, dance is central to identity and a signifier of social status.

In Regency Britain (1795-1837), dance was a vital accomplishment for elite society. The skill was regularly deployed in assembly rooms and the London townhouses of the beau monde – the pinnacle of metropolitan fashionable society.

From an early age, boys and girls in polite society were trained in deportment (posture and bodily carriage), etiquette and dancing by dancing masters – a role assumed by Benedict at the Bridgerton masquerade.

Dancing in Regency Britain

The real Prince Regent of the time (the future George IV) started to learn from his dancing master at the age of six, becoming so renowned for his prowess that he was celebrated as “the life of the dance”. Dancing masters were crucial to transforming girls and boys into ladies and gentlemen, equipping them with the skills necessary to perform when they made their entrance into society around the age of 18.

At a dance lesson in fashionable Queen’s Square, the German traveller, diarist and novelist Sophie von la Roche observed that the six-year-old girls “are eager to learn, as they are already quite advanced and promise to make good dancers”.

However, not everyone in elite society was an accomplished dancer. Writing about the Duke of Devonshire, the press diplomatically observed that dancing was “not his forte”. Meanwhile, the real Queen Charlotte’s eldest daughter struggled with her dance lessons as a teenager. The Princess Royal pleaded in a letter to her governess: “I have behaved well in every occasion except last Wednesday, that I danced ill … However, I hope that you will not give me quite up, since I have done everything else well, and that I dance[d] better last Friday.”

A lack of skill would only lead to ridicule and disgrace, as Lord Mansfield observed of the 19-year-old Lord Titchfield in a letter: “To set out in London raw as he is seems to be Ruin.”

Dance was a prized accomplishment for building reputation and staking a claim to inclusion in elite society, especially since “narrow examination[s]” and “thoro’ inspection[s]” were integral to the ballroom. Learning to dance was so ubiquitous in polite society that those who did not – or could not – dance stood out from the crowd.

The societal waltz

In Bridgerton, as the illegitimate daughter of an earl, Sophie is disadvantaged, but has not have been entirely excluded from society. We’re told that she was allowed to watch lessons with her stepsisters, but was not directly included and taught.

Unaware of Sophie’s background, Benedict is perplexed by her “puzzling” inability to dance, assuming that she was raised like the other young ladies of the Ton. And it is precisely this inability to dance that becomes a defining characteristic in his search for her in the following episodes. Indeed, Benedict’s hopes are raised when he hears of Mrs Mondrich’s (Emma Naomi) neighbour, who had not been taught to dance – certain she must be his mysterious lady in silver.

As Sophie’s dancing master, Benedict teaches her the waltz – a scandalous dance newly introduced to the British ballroom from France and Germany.

Unlike the lively and communal country dance and graceful minuet, which revolved around distance, the waltz featured a couple in a close embrace whirling around the ballroom. While quite a tame dance form today, the Regency waltz’s close physical contact shocked society. “Mad, bad, and dangerous to know” poet, Lord Byron even wrote a poem about it in 1812:

Hot from the hands promiscuously applied,

Round the slight waist, or down the glowing side;

Where were the rapture then to clasp the form,

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From this lewd grasp, and lawless contact warm?

Benedict teaches Sophie the waltz box step (which actually emerged in the late 19th century), but the Regency waltz was even more daring, with the dancers stepping between their partner’s legs. With a new, fashionable dance to master, diarist Thomas Raikes observed: “Old and young returned to school, and the mornings were now absorbed at home … whirling a chair round the room to learn the step and measure of the German waltz.” He continued: “The anti-waltzing party took the alarm, cried it down; mothers forbad it, and every ballroom became a scene of feud and contention” – a marked contrast to the ball scenes we see in Bridgerton.

Despite being raised as a social outcast, Sophie learns the waltz with ease like the other ladies in elite society, showing her compatibility with this season’s hero, and, perhaps, hinting at her true belonging in the Ton.

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Now a line has been drawn under such provocative appearances, he’s going to be tucked away in Sandringham, first of all in a temporary home on the estate, at Wood Farm, before his planned permanent new address. This will be at the expense of the King, rather than any public money.

According to the New York Post, our research team has discovered a much-overlooked “superfood”: bamboo shoots. Before you rush out to harvest the ornamental bamboo growing in your garden, there are a few things you should know.

We systematically reviewed all the available evidence on bamboo as a food and its effect on human health. The research base turned out to be surprisingly thin – just 16 studies met our criteria, including four trials in people and four that used cells in a dish. The final eight focused on bamboo characteristics with potential application to nutrition. This is what they showed us.

There is evidence of some positive health effects from eating bamboo. One study showed that eating bamboo shoots in cookies better controlled blood sugar levels, and that more bamboo consumption translated to further lowered levels.

Other studies documented the beneficial effects of the fibre they contain. This isn’t limited to the inevitable bowel movements but also includes the delightfully termed “faecal volume”, both of which were shown to improve.

Also, compared to a fibre-free diet, bamboo shoots lowered overall cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (so-called “bad cholesterol”) that can build up in blood vessels and cause heart disease.

One unusual benefit of bamboo is that it contains flavonoids – plant compounds that can protect against acrylamide, a potentially harmful chemical that forms when starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures. These compounds can increase the risk of some cancers and have been the subject of the Food Standards Agency campaign in 2017 to avoid any burning and “go for gold” when cooking.

Eating bamboo may also help calm inflammation and protect cells from damage. In lab tests, it reduced immune cell activity by 63% and halved the release of substances that trigger inflammation in the body. Bamboo also acts as an antioxidant – lab tests showed it cut by nearly half the production of harmful chemicals like hydrogen peroxide that can damage cells.

Although these findings were in cells in a dish, it gives some insight into the action of bamboo extracts on the human body.

The grass isn’t all green, though

However, if bamboo isn’t properly prepared, it can lead to problems. One study linked it to an increased risk of a condition called goitre. Goitre is an enlargement of the thyroid, a gland in the neck that is important for growth and setting the metabolic rate. It is visible as a swelling in the front of the neck and is most typically associated with low iodine consumption.

Poorly prepared bamboo contains chemicals called cyanogenic glycosides, which the body converts into another chemical called thiocyanate. These block the thyroid from using iodine effectively. People on low-iodine diets, or with existing thyroid issues, are particularly at risk. But the risk of goitre from bamboo shoot consumption may be reduced by properly preparing the shoot to eat, which can be achieved by boiling the shoot in water.

Some of the bamboo samples analysed contained heavy metals, like arsenic, cadmium and lead. These show up in most foods in trace amounts, and have safety levels specified, for example, by the Food Standards Agency.

While most were measured well within permitted limits, lead was found in amounts up to 4.6 times the permitted levels in 21 of the samples assessed. While caution is important, these concentrations were not shown to affect the health of the cells in the lab, which might suggest how easily such chemicals are used by tissues (their so-called “bio-availability”).

There are some other things to bear in mind too. The evidence base in this area isn’t as strong as it could be. The few relevant studies we did find on this topic had some methodological issues and they didn’t offer the most compelling evidence for their findings.

We could only formally assess the four trials on people, which scored in a range indicating “overall satisfactory quality”. As ever, though, they do show the value of research in this area, and the attention our study has garnered shows the public’s clear interest in the topic.

Still, the research shows that bamboo shoots have potential as a sustainable, healthy food. And like the shoots themselves, interest in this area is only likely to grow – rapidly.

The 2026 Six Nations campaign starts this week with the defending champions, France, taking on the side who finished third last year, Ireland.

Ireland welcome back their head coach Andy Farrell after his sabbatical from the 2025 tournament to prepare for the Lions tour of Australia.

Both Ireland and France, like England, won four and lost one match in the 2025 championship, France winning in Dublin and losing at Twickenham. Reflecting their finishes last year and their form throughout the autumn, France are favourites for the title and Ireland third, tucked behind England.

When is the opening match of the 2026 Six Nations?

France host Ireland on Thursday, February 5. The match will kick-off at 8.10pm GMT.

The French public love a Friday night fixture but their ardour is untested on Thursdays. They are treated to the opening match for the third championship in succession with contrasting results: France thumped Wales 43-0 last year but went down 17-38 at Ireland’s hands in Marseille in 2024, the visitors having overcome their World Cup hangover more quickly than the hosts.

Why is France v Ireland on Thursday?

The Thursday evening fixture is a controversial choice, but France’s broadcasters felt they had no choice because the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics is taking place on Friday evening.

Where is France v Ireland taking place?

At Stade de France, the national stadium at Saint-Denis, 8km north of central Paris. The stadium has a capacity of 81,338 and hosted both the 2007 and 2023 Rugby World Cup finals, as well as the athletics at the 2024 Olympic Games and the football World Cup final of 1998.

France also host Italy this year and round off the tournament with another home night match against England on March 14 when Le Crunch is sure to crackle.

A PENSIONER who sexually abused children at a summer camp after giving them sedative-laced sweets has admitted also drugging his wife.

Jon Ruben, 76, preyed on two boys, aged nine and ten, at Stathern Lodge in Leicestershire after knocking them out.

Eight children – all boys aged between eight and 11 – and one adult were taken to hospital following the horror.

Ruben appeared at Leicester Crown Court today where he pleaded guilty to drugging his wife.

He admitted the offence of unlawfully and maliciously administered a noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve, or annoy, after giving a voluntary interview.

The court heard he drugged his wife over three days between 26 and 29 July.

It comes after he previously admitted a total of 17 charges – including drugging and sexually assaulting the two boys.

He also admitted child cruelty towards six other victims and three counts of possessing a controlled drug of class C – flubromazolam, diazepam, and temazepam – and three counts of making indecent photos of children.

But he denied one of the sexual offences he was charged with against a nine-year-old boy.

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