Category Archives: Culture

Trump sought strike on top Iran military figure for political reasons – Esper book

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Robert O’Brien told top general shortly before 2020 election that Trump wanted to kill unnamed official, according to Esper memoir

Shortly before the 2020 election, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, “stunned” the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff by saying the president wanted to kill a senior Iranian military officer operating outside the Islamic Republic.

“This was a really bad idea with very big consequences,” Mark Esper, Trump’s second and last secretary of defense, writes in his new memoir, adding that Gen Mark Milley suspected O’Brien saw the strike purely in terms of Trump’s political interests.

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Ukraine’s entry is favourite to win Eurovision song contest

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Kalush Orchestra say they ‘represent every Ukrainian’ and song Stefania has become an anthem in the country

War-torn Ukraine is the favourite to win next week’s Eurovision song contest, which is being hosted by Italy for the first time in more than 30 years.

Kalush Orchestra, a band that blends traditional folk and hip-hop, is competing in the event with the song Stefania, which has become an anthem at home.

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‘We had to do this’: Berlin museum to drop ‘Russian’ from name

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Museum on site where Nazis agreed to surrender in 1945 will be renamed Museum Berlin-Karlshorst

A Berlin museum dedicated to German-Russian relations on the site where the Nazis agreed to unconditionally surrender in 1945 is to drop the word “Russian” from its name before anniversary events to mark the end of the second world war in Europe.

With tensions already high in the lead-up to the 77th anniversary on 8 and 9 May of Nazi Germany signing the surrender agreement, the German-Russian museum’s director, Jörg Morré, said he would be renaming it Museum Berlin-Karlshorst.

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Taika Waititi portrait wins packing room prize at 2022 Archibalds

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New Zealand-born artist Claus Stangl wins prize decided by gallery staff with painting of Academy Award-winning director

New Zealand-born Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl has taken out one of Australia’s top art honours with his portrait of Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi.

On Thursday, Stangl was announced as the winner of the packing room prize, a sub-category of the Archibald prize, Australia’s leading prize for portraiture.

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Amber Heard testifies in Johnny Depp defamation trial: ‘This is horrible for me’

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Actor takes witness stand in Virginia court and tells jurors trial ‘has been one of the most painful things I’ve ever gone through’

Amber Heard took the witness stand in a Virginia court on Wednesday afternoon during Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against her – a make-or-break moment for the actors in a four-week trial that had so far largely focused on Depp’s version of events during their turbulent 15-month marriage.

“I struggle to find the words to describe how painful this is … this is horrible for me to sit here for weeks and relive everything, to hear people that I knew, some well, some not, my ex-husband with whom I shared a life, speak about our lives in the way they have,” she said.

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Scottish medicines body to reassess menopause drug amid HRT shortage

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Davina McCall documentary highlights benefits and postcode lottery of previously rejected utrogestan

A sought-after hormone replacement therapy is being reassessed for use in Scotland after TV presenter and menopause campaigner Davina McCall revealed a postcode lottery in its prescription across the UK.

Amid an ongoing supply crisis of HRT products, McCall spoke to specialists about the benefits of utrogestan, a “body identical” micronised progesterone, which is derived from plants, in her Channel 4 documentary Sex, Mind and Menopause, broadcast on Monday.

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Dave Chappelle attacked by man with replica gun at LA comedy festival

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Incident raises further questions over comedian safety after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at Oscars

The comedian Dave Chappelle was attacked during a performance in Los Angeles, according to witnesses and videos of the incident posted online.

Footage showed someone running on stage and tackling Chappelle during his performance at the Netflix Is a Joke festival at Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night. The incident took place as the comedian was closing the show and thanking earlier performers including Chris Rock, Leslie Jones and Jon Stewart.

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‘A visionary in many ways’: art world mourns loss of Yolngu artist Mr Wanambi

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The painter, film-maker and Mulka Project founder died on Sunday, leaving behind a legacy of boundary-pushing art and an archive of cultural knowledge

The art world is mourning the loss of one of Australia’s most respected First Nations artists, Mr Wanambi, with one of his mentees saying “his passing has changed our entire landscape”.

The Yolngu painter, film-maker and curator died in Darwin on Sunday, more than 1,000km from his home in north-eastern Arnhem Land. He was just 59 years old. His family have requested his first name and image not be published.

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Fashion’s biggest night, the 2022 Met Gala – as it happened

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That dress deserves another look – Lively really has gone all-in:

Gala co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have made their entrance.

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Jury gives sweeping win to Kardashians in $100m Blac Chyna lawsuit

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Los Angeles jury finds Kardashian family did not convince the E! network to cancel Chyna’s reality show Rob & Chyna

A Los Angeles jury has given a sweeping win to the Kardashian family in former reality TV star Blac Chyna’s lawsuit against them, finding that none of the Kardashians had defamed Chyna, nor did they interfere with her contract by convincing the E! network to cancel her show Rob & Chyna.

The four Kardashian defendants Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner attended nearly the entire trial, but when the verdict was read all were in New York at the Met Gala.

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‘Deeply honoured’: Billy Connolly to receive Bafta fellowship

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Comedian says he does not let Parkinson’s disease dictate who he is, as he speaks of delight at accolade

Sir Billy Connolly said he does not let his Parkinson’s disease dictate who he is as he spoke of his honour at receiving this year’s Bafta fellowship.

The 79-year-old comedian, known as the Big Yin, will be celebrated for a career spanning more than five decades at the awards ceremony on 8 May. The fellowship is the highest Bafta accolade given to recognise outstanding and exceptional contribution in film, games or television.

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Square Enix sells its western studios and hits such as Tomb Raider for $300m

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Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy series secures deal with Sweden-based Embracer

The Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy is selling off three studios, including the rights to hit franchises including Tomb Raider, in a $300m (£240m) deal.

Tokyo-based Square Enix has sold US-headquartered Crystal Dynamics and Canada-based Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal to the Nasdaq-listed Swedish gaming group Embracer.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cinderella to close in the West End

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Shock news that show will end in June at London’s Gillian Lynne theatre brings heartache for company and those who had been due to join cast

The curtain is to come down on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new West End musical Cinderella, just under a year after opening, with its final performance set for 12 June.

In a statement released on Sunday by Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, the composer said “mounting a new show in the midst of Covid” had been an “unbelievable challenge” and that a new production of Cinderella would open on Broadway in 2023.

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Edinburgh show will display street photographer’s never-before-seen work

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University will host major survey of Robert Blomfield’s shots of student life in 1950s and 60s

Previously unseen work by a photographer who captured life in Edinburgh and has been compared to the great Henri Cartier-Bresson is to go on display at an exhibition in the city where he lived and worked.

Robert Blomfield moved to Edinburgh from Yorkshire and studied medicine in the city while living a second life as a pioneering street photographer who shifted between shooting university students, locals and the landscape of the Scottish capital.

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Naomi Judd, Grammy winner and mother of Wynonna and Ashley, dies at 76

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Daughters announced her death on Saturday, one day before the Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame

Naomi Judd, the Kentucky-born singer who formed the Grammy winning duo the Judds with her daughter Wynonna, and was also the mother of the actor Ashley Judd, has died. She was 76.

Judd’s daughters announced her death in a statement on Saturday, one day before the Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Ian Fleming’s lost James Bond screenplay reveals a very different 007

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With no Moneypenny and no M, a previously unpublished script reveals the author’s original ideas for Moonraker

In the action-packed film Moonraker, James Bond escapes from Jaws, the metal-toothed villain, on a hang-glider that ejects from a speedboat just as he drives over the precipice of a waterfall. It is one of numerous outlandish scenes in the film that Ian Fleming never wrote in his original 007 novel. And it could not be more different to the author’s own version of the film, according to a previously unpublished script.

In 1956, a year after the Moonraker novel was published, Fleming wrote his own 150-page film treatment with a plot that is as serious as the 1979 film is lightweight, despite Roger Moore’s charm as the fictional spy.

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Theatres need more plus-sized black actors, says Broadway and West End star

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Marisha Wallace wants to inspire young girls and call out lack of diversity as she takes on role in Oklahoma!

A professional career in theatre was not always on the cards for Marisha Wallace. The Broadway and West End star, who was born and raised on a pig farm in North Carolina, rarely saw people that looked like her on stage.

As she takes on the coveted role of Ado Annie in the revival of Oklahoma! at London’s Young Vic theatre, Wallace is on a singular mission to call out the lack of plus-sized black actors on stage and to inspire young girls just like her.

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Ukraine accuses Russian forces of seizing 2,000 artworks in Mariupol

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City council is reportedly preparing materials to initiate criminal proceedings over mass cultural looting

Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of seizing “over 2,000 artworks” from museums in the occupied city of Mariupol and moving the pieces to areas of the Russian-controlled Donbas region.

“The occupiers ‘liberated’ Mariupol from its historical and cultural heritage. They stole and moved more than 2,000 unique exhibits from museums in Mariupol to Donetsk,” the Mariupol city council said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel on Thursday.

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Klaus Schulze, German electronic music pioneer, dies aged 74

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Multi-instrumentalist who played with Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before admired solo career is hailed for his ‘innovative spirit’

Klaus Schulze, the German multi-instrumentalist whose work with drones, pulses and synthesisers was hugely influential on generations of electronic music makers, has died aged 74.

Frank Uhle, managing director of Schulze’s label SVP, wrote: “We lose and will miss a good personal friend – one of the most influential and important composers of electronic music – a man of conviction and an exceptional artist. Our thoughts in this hour are with his wife, sons and family. His always cheerful nature, his innovative spirit and his impressive body of work remain indelibly rooted in our memories.”

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RSC to stage adaptation of animated fantasy film My Neighbour Totoro

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Royal Shakespeare Company’s version of celebrated Studio Ghibli movie will be first opening ‘of this scale’ in nearly 40 years

The Royal Shakespeare Company is to stage an adaptation of the celebrated Japanese animation feature film, My Neighbour Totoro, in a production it promises will be ambitious and spectacular.

The 1988 film became a global success after Netflix acquired the rights to 21 movies from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation giant, in 2020. The world premiere of the stage adaptation, directed by Phelim McDermott and featuring puppets created by Basil Twist, will have a limited run of 15 weeks at the Barbican from October until January.

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