Category Archives: Culture

Anger in Romania over theft of national treasures in heist at Dutch museum

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Revered Helmet of Coțofenești among items from ancient Dacian civilisation stolen while on loan at Drents Museum

Hours before the sun rose over the Netherlands, the group crowded around the large external door, appearing to pry it open. Seconds later, the grainy security video appeared to show a powerful explosion, sending plumes of smoke and sparks into the air, and the thieves rush into the museum in the north-eastern city of Assen.

Minutes later they were gone. But the mystery of what exactly took place during their few minutes in the Drents Museum – and what came afterwards – has left officials in the Netherlands scrambling for answers, and prompted a row that has stretched to the other side of Europe.

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Patti Smith collapses on stage in Brazil after suffering days-long migraine

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The poet, author and musician fell during a performance with Soundwalk Collective, who later posted ‘she is being cared for by the best doctors’

Patti Smith collapsed during a performance in Brazil after experiencing a severe migraine for several days. Smith, 78, was performing with the Berlin group Soundwalk Collective, in which she recites her writing to a musical backing.

Associated Press reported that the newspaper Folha de S Paulo said that Smith passed out about 30 minutes into the event while reading a piece about the climate crisis. After falling, she was taken backstage in a wheelchair.

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BBC apologises to staff who ‘felt unable to raise’ Russell Brand concerns

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A number of people believed comedian ‘would always get his way and therefore they stayed silent’, review finds

The BBC has apologised to staff after a review into the conduct of Russell Brand during his time with the broadcaster found a number of people “felt unable to raise” concerns about his behaviour .

Peter Johnston, the BBC director of editorial complaints and reviews, said on Thursday he had investigated eight complaints about Brand during his review, with only one of those formally made to the BBC.

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Louvre’s decision to move Mona Lisa is a misguided act of snobbery

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Crowds give life to the Paris museum and the painting is a silent, compelling mystery at the heart of the hubbub

What a wonderful headache for a museum to have. The Louvre in Paris gets so many visitors it is taking drastic measures to cope, which include moving its most famous treasure to a dedicated space where fans can visit without entering the main museum at all. It will no longer suck the oxygen from other art.

Nearly 9 million visitors a year stream through the Louvre and it’s believed 80% of them are looking for Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, better known as La Gioconde, better still as the Mona Lisa.

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Ozzy Osbourne ‘very proud’ as Birmingham to honour Black Sabbath

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Sharon Osbourne says husband excited to be awarded Freedom of Birmingham along with other band members

Being awarded the Freedom of Birmingham “means a lot” to Ozzy Osbourne and the members of Black Sabbath, Sharon Osbourne has said, as the city council prepares to approve the honour.

Ozzy, alongside the founding band members, Tony Iommi, Terence Butler and Bill Ward, will be given the honorary title in recognition of their service to the city, with councillors expected to give the go ahead on Tuesday.

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Mexicans make Emilia Pérez parody poking fun at French stereotypes

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Spoof fires back at supposed inauthenticity of Oscar-tipped screen musical with a song-and-dance tale of boulangeries at war

The war of words between Mexico and France over trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez has heated up even more after the release of a spoof film called Johanne Sacreblu poking fun at French stereotypes.

Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard and which is up for the best picture Oscar along with a best actress nomination for its star Karla Sofia Gascón, is the story of a cartel boss who hires a lawyer (played by Zoe Saldana) to enable a gender transition, and has attracted much criticism in Mexico, where it is supposedly set.

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Cult London film venue Prince Charles cinema under threat of closure

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Much loved for its screenings of hard-to-find films, the venue claims its landlord wants to alter lease, leaving it able to shut down the business

The Prince Charles cinema in central London, long a site of pilgrimage for those interested in cult and hard-to-find films, has launched a petition saying its existence is under threat from its property developer landlords.

In a statement on petitions website 38degrees.org.uk, the cinema says that Zedwell LSQ Ltd (who are owned by developers Criterion Capital) are demanding a “break clause” in the building’s lease, which is currently being negotiated as the current lease ends in September. The cinema says this means they would be on six months’ notice to leave if Zedwell decides to redevelop the site.

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Stories woven in cloth in Pakistan’s first textile museum

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Nasreen and Hasan Askari open Karachi museum with her 1,000-piece centuries-old collection from trade crossroads

As a young medical student in 1970s Pakistan, Nasreen Askari had an encounter that would shape her for ever.

After asking the mother of a sick boy routine questions about his family history, the woman looked outraged. Marching Askari outside, she took off her colourful shawl and laid it on her lap. “Most of the answers to your pointless questions are here,” she said, pointing to intricate embroidery that symbolised everything, from the woman’s community, to her marriage status and her number of children.

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Paul McCartney says change in law over AI could ‘rip off’ artists

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Former Beatles member says government should protect creative workers as consultation on copyright continues

Sir Paul McCartney has warned artificial intelligence could “rip off” artists if a proposed overhaul of copyright law goes ahead.

The proposals could remove the incentive for writers and artists and result in a “loss of creativity”, he told the BBC.

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The Traitors nail-biting finale brings latest series to an end

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After 12 episodes, eight ‘murders’ and 14 banishments, winner or winners revealed on BBC One show

Warning: this article contains spoilers

After 12 episodes, eight “murders” and 14 banishments, the winners of The Traitors were revealed after a nail-biting finale.

Project manager Jake Brown and former soldier Leanne Quigley will share a prize pot of £94,600.

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Carl Bloch’s lost masterpiece Prometheus Unbound finds fame again in Athens

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Work that made its creator a superstar then mysteriously disappeared is mesmerising art lovers once more

It was commissioned by a Greek king, made its creator a superstar and in his native Denmark attracted crowds like no other painting before. Then it mysteriously disappeared.

Now, nearly nine decades after it was last seen gracing the stairwell of the royal palace that would become the Athens parliament, Carl Bloch’s masterpiece, Prometheus Unbound, has found fame again in Greece.

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Irish-language cinema has bright future despite Oscars snub, says Kneecap director

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Comedy film loosely based on lives of Belfast hip-hop trio missed out on nominations for best international feature and original song

Hollywood may not have been quite ready to see Kneecap “walking down the red carpet smoking a joint” but the makers of the comedy biopic about the hip-hop trio say it has shown there is a “bright future” for Irish-language cinema and an indigenous industry in Belfast.

The producers of the film – which is named after the group – and their family and friends turned out to watch the Academy Awards nominations announcement in Madden’s bar in Belfast with the band tuning in on Zoom from London, where they are recording a new album.

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Visiting leaky, crowded Louvre is ‘physical ordeal’, museum’s boss says

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In leaked memo to culture minister, Laurence des Cars sounds alarm over state of Paris art gallery

Visiting the Louvre has become a “physical ordeal” as the throngs of tourists, leaks and substandard catering take a toll on the world’s most-visited museum, its director has said in a leaked memo.

The document, written by Laurence des Cars for the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, but leaked to the media on Thursday, sounded the alarm over the state of the Paris museum.

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Jack Lowden joined by Martin Freeman in alcoholism drama The Fifth Step

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Lowden first appeared in David Ireland’s two-hander in Edinburgh last year. For its West End run, he is paired with his ‘hero’ Freeman

Slow Horses star Jack Lowden is to reprise his role in The Fifth Step, a play about addiction, faith and masculinity, in a new West End production co-starring Martin Freeman.

Lowden first appeared in the drama, written by David Ireland, at the Edinburgh international festival last year and drew acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic, Luka, who joins the 12-step programme. The two-hander starred Sean Gilder as Luka’s older mentor, a part that will be played by Freeman in the production at @sohoplace in London, running from 10 May until 26 July. Finn den Hertog will again direct.

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Academy says Oscars will go on as planned and ‘honor’ LA amid fires

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Letter from Academy leadership also says show will ‘move away’ from live performances to celebrate songwriters

The Oscars will go on as planned in March, though with special accommodations to acknowledge to devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, according to a new update from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

A letter from the CEO, Bill Kramer, and president Janet Yang, sent to all members on Wednesday, confirmed that the ceremony will “celebrate the work that unites us as a global film community and acknowledge those who fought so bravely against the wildfires”.

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‘When I’m not Trump, I’m just Mike’: UK impersonator enjoys re-election boom

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Mike Osman, aka ‘Donald Trumped’, from Southampton, says he is expecting busiest year of career

A British Donald Trump impersonator is looking forward to an “unstoppable” four years, thanking the American president for providing him with a pension pot for his retirement.

Southampton-based Mike Osman, a 65-year-old comedian, said his income had increased by between 30 and 40% since Trump was re-elected and he was expecting to have the busiest year of his career.

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Garth Hudson, founder member of the Band and Bob Dylan collaborator, dies aged 87

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Hudson was the last remaining member of the folk-rock group, releasing 10 studio albums with them and touring with Dylan in his newfound electric period

Garth Hudson, the last remaining founder member of the Band, has died aged 87.

The multi-instrumentalist, who played keyboards and saxophone for the bestselling 1960s folk-rockers as well as Bob Dylan, died peacefully in his sleep at the Woodstock nursing home he lived in, the executor of his estate confirmed to the Toronto Star.

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David Hockney unveils unseen work for major Paris retrospective

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Exclusive: William Blake-inspired artwork to feature alongside new paintings in artist’s biggest exhibition

A previously unseen painting by David Hockney has been revealed for the first time before its unveiling in the biggest exhibition to be devoted to one of Britain’s foremost living artists.

Titled After Blake: Less is Known than People Think, the work will be among hundreds of previously unknown Hockneys that are to be displayed alongside his famous masterpieces at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris from April.

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‘Animals can feel good and evil’: film puts new perspective on Ukraine war

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Collection of seven shorts due out in 2025 tells story of conflict from perspective of animals

The occupying Russian soldiers paid little attention to the elderly woman shuffling through the farmland surrounding the villages outside Kyiv, taking her goat to pasture. But she was focused closely on them. After locating their positions, she headed back home with the goat, and later called her grandson, a soldier in the Ukrainian army, to give the coordinates.

The story is one of seven episodes, based on real events from the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion but lightly fictionalised, that make up a feature film about the war in Ukraine, due out later this year. All seven of the shorts have one thing in common: they tell the story of the conflict from the perspective of animals.

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‘She would have been in awe of him’: how Laurence Olivier gave Margaret Thatcher private seduction lessons

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New drama, When Maggie Met Larry, reveals exactly how the world’s most famous actor coached the fledgling Iron Lady

In 1972, a nervous Margaret Thatcher went to Laurence Olivier’s London home for a lesson on presentational skills. The most famous actor of the 20th century told the then education secretary to put a book on her head and walk around to improve her deportment. He also advised her to take long confident strides, and to use her eyes to seduce and flirt.

The future prime minister went on to visit Olivier’s house for a further five lessons, details of which are revealed in a new Radio 4 play, When Maggie Met Larry. Starring Derek Jacobi, who joined Olivier’s fledgling National Theatre when only 24, and Frances Barber as Thatcher, the drama tells of the previously unknown advice on style and voice offered to the Tory politician.

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