Ceremony to mark start of Attenborough polar ship construction

Construction of the UK's new £200m polar research ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, formally begins on Monday at Cammell Laird on Merseyside.

A ceremony will see a crane lower a near-100-tonne segment of keel on to blocks on the firm's slipway. The ship is intended to be at work by 2019.

The vessel is already well known owing to the online vote to name it, which saw the public choose Boaty McBoatface.

An autonomous submarine deployed by the ship will be given that name instead.