Singers, artists and co-founder of women’s fiction prize among members of arts world to be recognised
The co-founder of the Glastonbury festival, a bestselling novelist and an organ-playing TikTok sensation are among the recipients of New Year honours from the world of arts and culture.
Michael Eavis, 88, who first hosted the Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk festival at Worthy Farm in 1970, was recognised for services to music and charity.
Continue reading...Artist says Tony Allen’s surly stewards ended up as the most talked about part of his 2015 ‘bemusement park’
Banksy has paid tribute to a late comedian who trained 100 teenagers to be “the most surly and incompetent employees in the history of hospitality” for his 2015 Dismaland exhibition.
In a rare step, the reclusive graffiti artist has written a piece recalling his time with the comedian Tony Allen, which was read on BBC Radio 4’s obituary programme, Last Word, on Friday.
Continue reading...Conflict has changed Ukrainian poetry and boosted interest at home and abroad, but several poets have died or disappeared
A year ago, the poet Borys Humenyuk sent a final message. For 24 hours, he and two fellow Ukrainian soldiers had been under relentless Russian fire. Shells rained down on their trench outside the eastern city of Bakhmut. “We’re running out of ammo. Down to the last bullet,” Humenyuk said over a crackling radio. Those were his last words.
Humenyuk had volunteered to relieve a group of exhausted service personnel at “zero”, the hottest part of the frontline. Now, he explained, he was wounded in the shoulder and unable to drag his injured comrade to safety. “We are stuck,” he reported. By the time an evacuation team reached the trench in the village of Klishchiivka, Humenyuk had disappeared.
Continue reading...Then PM was advised to ‘encourage’ British Museum to agree long-term loan in return for Greek support
Tony Blair considered a “long-term loan” of the Parthenon marbles to Greece in the hope of support for a London 2012 Olympic Games bid, newly released documents reveal.
Twenty years before Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over the ownership question of the sculptures, Greece was lobbying Blair, the then prime minister, for a long-term loan, bypassing the issue of ownership.
Continue reading...Former US president denies director’s claims that he insisted on appearing in 1992 film in exchange for filming in his hotel
Donald Trump has denied claims made by the director Chris Columbus that he “bullied his way into” appearing in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
The former US president said on his social media platform Truth Social, that the film’s production team were “begging me to make a cameo appearance”.
Continue reading...Duo’s music ‘will always trump almost anything that Daryl does on his own or I do on my own’ says Oates, weeks after Hall filed to stop him selling his share of their rights
John Oates, half of the hugely successful pop rock duo Hall & Oates, has opened up about his partnership with Daryl Hall amid their ongoing and fractious legal battle.
Hall, 77, is suing Oates, 75, in an initially confidential lawsuit that came to light in November when Hall also filed for and received a temporary restraining order against Oates in a Nashville court.
Continue reading...Ana Clara Benevides, 23, died hours after the singer’s 17 November show – a day when temperatures hit 40C
Heat exhaustion caused the death of a Brazilian fan who attended a Taylor Swift concert in November, according to a forensics report obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Ana Clara Benevides, 23, passed out during Swift’s second song at the show in Rio de Janeiro on 17 November and died hours later at a local hospital. Temperatures in the city that day were at about 40C (105F).
Continue reading...In social media posts, the singer thanked the sculptor Yino Márquez and his students for their ‘enormous artistic talent’
Shakira has been transformed into a 21.3ft (6.5 meters) bronze statue in her home town of Barranquilla, Colombia, where according to legend she began her trademark hip-shaking dance moves on the table in a Lebanese restaurant at the age of four.
The Hips Don’t Lie singer shared photos and video of the statue, which captures her making her trademark hip swivel, on her Instagram account. She captioned one post: “Estoy muy emocionada por este homenaje a la mujer Colombiana y a las Barranquilleras dentro y fuera de mi tierra!” (I am very excited for this tribute to the Colombian woman and the Barranquilleras inside and outside my land!)
Continue reading...Tom and brother Dick’s groundbreaking CBS show was pulled when they took a stance against Vietnam war and for civil rights
Tom Smothers, half of the comedy group the Smothers Brothers, has died at the age of 86.
Smothers was described as “not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life”, but as “a one-of-a-kind creative partner”, according to a statement by his brother Dick Smothers on Wednesday shared by the National Comedy Center.
Continue reading...Culture minister Lina Mendoni pledges to ‘fill the void’ at British Museum should ancient sculptures be returned to Athens
Greece is prepared to part with some of its greatest treasures to “fill the void” at the British Museum if the Parthenon marbles were reunited in Athens, the country’s culture minister has said.
Speaking to the Guardian at the end of a momentous year for the campaign to retrieve the fifth-century BC masterpieces, Lina Mendoni promised that the London institution’s revered Greek galleries would never go empty.
Continue reading...The British film-maker also wrote the landmark TV play Made in Britain, starring Tim Roth, and won an Emmy award for Band of Brothers
David Leland, the director behind popular 1980s hit Wish You Were Here and writer on a string of acclaimed British films including Made in Britain, Mona Lisa and Personal Services, has died aged 82. His agency Casarotto Ramsay and Associates said in a statement that Leland died on Sunday surrounded by his family. They added: “He is survived by his wife, Sabrina, his four daughters, his son and his six grandchildren … all of whom he loved almost as much as Arsenal football club.”
Born in 1941, Leland initially trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech of Drama, before becoming part of the breakaway that led to the creation of the Drama Centre in 1963. He secured small roles in 1970s films such as John Mackenzie’s directorial debut One Brief Summer, Gawain and the Green Knight starring Murray Head and Jacques Demy’s The Pied Piper. However, he found writing and directing more to his taste, directing the world premiere of Michael Palin and Terry Jones’s pair of short plays, Their Finest Hours, at the Crucible theatre, Sheffield, in 1976, and commissioning Victoria Wood to write her 1978 play Talent for the same venue. In 1977 Leland cast Pierce Brosnan, who had also studied at the Drama Centre, in the UK premiere of Tennessee Williams’ play The Red Devil Battery Sign at the Roundhouse in London.
Continue reading...Signatories of open letter, who include Charlotte Rampling and Carla Bruni, accused of placing actor above the law
An open letter signed by 56 prominent figures defending Gérard Depardieu and suggesting the cinema giant – who has been accused of rape and sexual assault – is the victim of a “lynching” has sparked outrage in France.
Critics have accused signatories – including the British actor Charlotte Rampling, the former French first lady Carla Bruni and Depardieu’s former partner Carole Bouquet – of placing him above the law and attempting to drown out #MeToo voices.
Continue reading...BBC showed nine out of 10 most popular shows, according to overnight data, with Strictly coming second and Doctor Who third
King Charles’s Christmas broadcast came top of the TV ratings on Christmas Day, with the BBC showing nine out of the 10 most watched shows.
The king’s message, which reflected on the “increasingly tragic conflict around the world”, attracted an average of 5.9 million viewers, according to overnight ratings.
Continue reading...Thousands sign petition challenging Macron-backed restoration that would add contemporary design to building
A plan backed by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to replace stained-glass windows in Notre Dame Cathedral’s side chapels with contemporary creations has been criticised as “vandalism”.
A petition has been signed by more than 120,000 people to retain the original windows. Critics say the change would destroy the architectural harmony of the historical building that was ravaged by fire in April 2019.
Continue reading...When Vladimir Kosarevsky was ordered to destroy books referring to same-sex relationships, he raised the alarm instead – then went to Spain to rebuild his life
As a gay man growing up in Russia, books were Vladimir Kosarevsky’s refuge, offering him a precious glimpse into lives that in some way echoed his own. So when the Moscow librarian received orders late last year to destroy books referencing same-sex relationships – part of a sweeping attack on gay and transgender rights – Kosarevsky knew it was a line he wouldn’t cross.
“I realised that if I did it, I would never ever be able to forgive myself,” Kosarevsky told the Guardian from northern Spain, where he is claiming asylum. “It had always been important to me to see those heroes in books, because it represents you somehow. It makes you visible, even when the politics in Russia are determined to erase you.”
Continue reading...The actor, who has played characters on both sides of the debate, says the UK needs a conversation about euthanasia and assisted suicide
About a decade ago, Dame Harriet Walter, the 73-year-old star of stage and screen, decided to make a living will. The will, also known as an advance decision, informs family, carers and doctors of a person’s wish to refuse specific treatments should they become too ill to communicate those choices. (It stops short of requesting help with end of life; euthanasia and assisted suicide remain illegal in the UK.) But, when it came to actually completing the details of her living will, Walter always found something else to do.
“I had the will sitting in my filing cabinet for about three or four years before I got round to it,” says Walter, who made her name in the theatre but has recently had eye-catching roles in the TV shows Succession, Killing Eve and Ted Lasso. “It’s not something you really want to look at, it’s not something you want to think about. But it will be good to know that there’s something in place that you could use when the time comes. Then you close that filing cabinet.”
Continue reading...Piece showing three aircraft on stop sign in Peckham was confirmed as genuine by the artist on Instagram
Two men have been filmed taking an artwork created by Banksy from a south London street less than an hour after it was confirmed as a genuine installation.
The artist confirmed the piece – a traffic stop sign covered with three aircraft said to resemble military drones – was his in a social media post shortly after midday on Friday.
Continue reading...‘Mission accomplished!’ says Andrew Ridgeley, while Cher becomes oldest woman to score a UK Top 40 hit
Wham! have finally earned a Christmas No 1 for Last Christmas, 39 years after the song was denied the festive top spot by Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?.
With the song’s pain and poignancy still undimmed thanks to the tangibly heartbroken performance of the late George Michael, it was streamed 13.3m times this week, and was helped along by special vinyl and CD editions.
Continue reading...Curators of new exhibition say decision was made in consultation with artist’s family and dismiss claims move is ‘paternalistic’
Two art world figures pivotal in the career of Australia’s most internationally lauded female painter have spoken out against the decision by the National Gallery of Australia to adopt a new spelling of her name.
The Emily Kam Kngwarray retrospective which opened at the NGA in Canberra earlier this month is the first major exhibition of the artist, who died in 1996, to use the new spelling.
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Continue reading...The actor, who also starred in film and television for decades, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer
James McCaffrey, the actor who provided the voice of the titular character of the Max Payne video games, has died aged 65.
The actor died on Sunday at his home in Larchmont, New York, having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, his wife, the actor Rochelle Boström confirmed.
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