Category Archives: Culture

Wagatha Christie: big-budget drama joins race to bring libel trial to screen

Posted on by

Poldark creator among writers and film-makers lining up to reconstruct spat between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney

A big-budget drama featuring major characters in the Wagatha Christie case is to join the slew of documentaries already in production, as the race to bring to the small screen the rancorous details of the high court battle that ended on Friday hots up.

The row between two high-profile footballers’ wives, which ended last week when the judge ruled in favour of Coleen Rooney, is to be turned into television serial by one of Britain’s leading screenwriters. Debbie Horsfield, who adapted Poldark for the 2015-19 BBC series, is to write a drama chronicling the notorious public row between Rebekah Vardy, wife of leading Leicester goal scorer Jamie Vardy, and Coleen Rooney, wife of Wayne, the renowned former England player and, until last month, manager of Derby County.

Continue reading...

‘Big tree down’: Archie Roach remembered as a truth-teller, healer and First Nations champion

Posted on by

Cathy Freeman, Paul Kelly and Linda Burney among those who have paid tribute to the musician after his death

The Indigenous Australian songwriter and activist Archie Roach has been praised as a “courageous” and “powerful” truth-teller, as leading figures in politics and the arts mourn his passing.

Roach died aged 66, after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones at Warrnambool Base Hospital.

Continue reading...

Thailand’s gay-romance TV dramas help revive flagging tourism industry

Posted on by

The popularity of ‘boy-love’ series sends fans from home and abroad flocking to filming locations across the country

There is a table in Soontaree Thiprat’s Phuket cafe that is always fully booked. Most of her customers at the Dibuk restaurant want to sit in the corner, at the spot with the red tablecloth and purple flower.

It is the table where the male student characters Teh and Oh-aew, played by the actors Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul and Krit “PP” Amnuaydechkorn, would sit together and flirt in I Told Sunset About You and its sequel, I Promised You the Moon, a romantic Thai series that has proved hugely popular in its home country and abroad.

Continue reading...

Jared Kushner: I stopped Trump attacking Murdoch in 2015

Posted on by

In forthcoming memoir, obtained by the Guardian, former adviser claims to have made hugely consequential intervention

In a forthcoming memoir, Jared Kushner says he personally intervened to stop Donald Trump attacking Rupert Murdoch in response to the media mogul’s criticism, at the outset of Trump’s move into politics in 2015.

In the book, Breaking History, Kushner writes: “Trump called me. He’d clearly had enough. ‘This guy’s no good. And I’m going to tweet it.’

Continue reading...

Final Neighbours episode watched by 3 million viewers in UK

Posted on by

Australian soap ends after nearly four decades with double-episode special on Channel 5

Three million viewers tuned in to say goodbye to Ramsay Street as Neighbours came to a close after almost four decades of constant drama.

The final episode of the Australian soap aired on Friday night in the UK on Channel 5, with stars including Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Margot Robbie making one last appearance on the show that brought them fame.

Continue reading...

Chris Rock jokes about slap after Will Smith apology video

Posted on by

Comedian doesn’t directly address apology onstage but says: ‘Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith ... I went to work the next day’

Comedian Chris Rock did not directly address Will Smith’s recent apology video to him when onstage in Atlanta on Friday but he did continue to make jokes about the notorious incident at the Oscars when he was slapped by the actor while presenting the awards show.

“If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims,” Rock said. “Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith ... I went to work the next day, I got kids,” he joked, according to CNN.

Continue reading...

Archie Roach, Australian songman and voice of the stolen generations, dies aged 66

Posted on by

Tributes pour in for musician whose song Took the Children Away became the anthem of the stolen generations

Archie Roach, the Indigenous Australian songwriter whose celebrated song Took the Children Away brought national attention to the story of the stolen generations, has died aged 66.

Roach died at Warrnambool Base hospital after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

Continue reading...

Oxford University may return items looted from Nigeria by Britain in 1897

Posted on by

University council supports claim for 97 artefacts, including bronzes, currently held in city’s museums

Oxford University could return almost 100 artefacts that were looted by British colonial forces in 1897, after Nigeria requested the repatriation of the cultural items this year.

The 97 objects, including bronzes, were taken from Benin City by British troops and are currently held in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Continue reading...

Jihad Rehab: former Guantánamo prisoners call for documentary to be withdrawn

Posted on by

Film speaks with men at a rehabilitation centre in Saudi Arabia who had previously been held at Guantánamo Bay detention camp

A group of former Guantánamo prisoners are calling for the film Jihad Rehab to be withdrawn. In an open letter, the men express their “discomfort with the content of the film and its methods of production.”

The letter was published after the film was screened at the Doc Edge festival in New Zealand under a new name, The UnRedacted. “Changing the title of the film doesn’t change its harmful narrative or lazy stereotyping,” says Moazzam Begg, a former prisoner and director of the Cage advocacy group. “Following widespread criticism, the team behind Jihad Rehab had an opportunity to listen and learn. Yet this has been met with little corrective action or even acknowledgment.”

Continue reading...

Will Smith posts emotional apology for the slap: ‘I am deeply remorseful’

Posted on by

Actor releases video answering questions about the incident at this year’s Oscars where he slapped Chris Rock onstage

Will Smith has posted an emotional video to his social channels expressing remorse over the Oscars slap.

The 53-year-old actor caused controversy at this year’s ceremony after he slapped Chris Rock onstage after a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and her appearance. Smith released a statement on Instagram to apologise but has been silent since.

Continue reading...

‘If there is anywhere that can put on a party’: UK cities bid to host Eurovision

Posted on by

Sheffield, Glasgow and others tell why they should play host after decision not to hold event in Ukraine

In 1956 Sheffield became, it is believed, the first UK city to officially twin with one behind the iron curtain, partnering with a similar steel and mining-rich place then called Stalino, but later Donetsk.

It is the reason that there is a Shefield Square on the banks of the River Kalmius. In Sheffield there’s a long, busy road called Donetsk Way. And it those links that are one reason the Yorkshire city is now bidding to host next year’s Eurovision song contest, which is coming to the UK but, everyone agrees, should really be in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

So, Prince Harry’s memoir is done – but what’s likely to be in it?

Posted on by

Ghostwritten book, with interviews conducted mostly during ‘peak rage’, expected to be published by end of year

The manuscript is, reportedly, written; the ink now dry. Publication is said to be on course to capitalise on the lucrative Christmas market.

Few crumbs, if any, of the contents of the Duke of Sussex’s much-anticipated memoirs have so far emerged. “It’s juicy, that’s for sure,” one source told the Page Six website, with another adding: “There is some content in there that should make his family nervous.”

Continue reading...

Trump chief of staff ‘shoved’ Ivanka at White House, Kushner book says

Posted on by

John Kelly, who Kushner and wife saw as ‘consistently duplicitous’, ‘showed his true character’ in hallway incident, memoir says

While chief of staff to Donald Trump, the retired general John Kelly “shoved” Ivanka Trump in a White House hallway, Jared Kushner writes in his forthcoming memoir.

The detail from Breaking History, which will be published in August, was reported by the Washington Post.

Continue reading...

Ancient sculptures found in storage box finally returned to Mexico

Posted on by

Consulate accepts a dozen small artworks amid worldwide movement to repatriate Indigenous items

Small, ancient sculptures that have been gathering dust in an Albuquerque storage box are returning home to Mexico, where they are intertwined with the identity of Indigenous communities.

The Albuquerque Museum Foundation celebrated the repatriation of a dozen sculptures in a ceremony on Wednesday. The local consulate of Mexico accepted Olmec greenstone sculptures, a figure from the city of Zacatecas, bowls that were buried with tombs and other clay figurines that date back thousands of years.

Continue reading...

Blake Bailey, biographer accused of harassment and rape, to publish memoir

Posted on by

Bailey’s book on Philip Roth was pulled after former students said he abused them

The author of a Philip Roth biography that was taken out of print by its original publisher last year after allegations that he raped multiple women and groomed his former middle school students for sexual encounters when they were older is gearing up to publish a book billing itself as a warning tale of so-called cancel culture.

Blake Bailey’s latest work is scheduled to be printed by the controversial Skyhorse Publishing, which picked up his Roth book and an earlier memoir after WW Norton took it out of print and pledged to donate money to sexual abuse organizations equaling the advance it had paid to the biographer.

Continue reading...

Goodfellas actor Paul Sorvino dies at 83

Posted on by

The Brooklyn-bred actor, who played mobster Paulie Cicero in Goodfellas, died of natural causes on Monday

Paul Sorvino, the Tony-nominated actor who played mobster Paulie Cicero in Goodfellas, has died at age 83. Sorvino, the father of actor Mira Sorvino, died of natural causes on Monday, his wife Dee Dee announced.

“Our hearts are broken, there will never be another Paul Sorvino, he was the love of my life and one of the greatest performers to ever grace the screen and stage,” she said in a statement published by the Hollywood Reporter.

Continue reading...

UK to host Eurovision song contest in 2023 on behalf of Ukraine

Posted on by

BBC says programme will have ‘glorious Ukraine at its heart’, with cities invited to bid to host event

The Eurovision song contest will be hosted in the UK next year after Ukraine’s public broadcaster dropped its objections and agreed to work with the BBC on the event.

Ukraine won this year’s Eurovision with the song Stefania by Kalush Orchestra, earning the right to host the 2023 edition. However, organisers concluded this could not be done safely while the country was at war with Russia – angering the Ukrainian government, which said it had submitted a workable safety plan.

Continue reading...

Diana Kennedy, influential guru of Mexican cuisine, dies at 99

Posted on by

Politicians and chefs pay tribute to the ‘Indiana Jones of food’, who helped preserve and popularise Mexican recipes in the English-speaking world

Diana Kennedy, the British-born food writer who dedicated her career to promoting the richness and diversity of Mexico’s culinary heritage and helped to popularise the national cuisine in the English-speaking world, has died aged 99.

The Mexican culture ministry confirmed Kennedy’s death at her home in Michoacán and paid tribute to her legacy, saying that she, “like few others”, understood that conserving nature and its diversity was crucial to upholding the myriad culinary traditions of Mexico.

Continue reading...

Margot Robbie returns to Ramsay Street for Neighbours finale

Posted on by

Hollywood actor will play Donna Freedman one more time as Australian soap comes to an end

The Oscar-nominated actor Margot Robbie will join a handful of international stars returning to Ramsay Street for the final episode of the long-running Australian soap Neighbours.

The 32-year-old, who starred in The Suicide Squad and is playing Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s forthcoming film, will return to her role as Donna Freedman in the Australian soap.

Continue reading...

Kherson’s secret art society produces searing visions of life under Russian occupation

Posted on by

Painters, playwrights and photographers have defied the threat of arrest in southern Ukrainian city to share their experiences

Under the threat of imprisonment, interrogation and the constant pressure of searches by Russian soldiers, six artists secretly met in a basement studio in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson.

In the months after their homes were taken over by Putin’s forces, the artists formed a residency during which they created dozens of works, including drawings, paintings, video, photography, diary entries and stage plays.

Continue reading...