Category Archives: Culture

Amp Fiddler, funk musician with all-star collaborations, dies aged 65

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Joseph Fiddler performed and recorded with Prince, Seal and Maxwell, and mentored hip-hop producer J Dilla

Joseph Fiddler, the funk musician known as Amp Fiddler who was acclaimed for solo work and collaborations with generations of diverse musicians, has died aged 65.

A statement on social media read: “Detroit’s own world renowned ambassador of funk, soul, & electronic music, keyboardist, producer, afro-futurist, and guiding force of light for so many, has transitioned at the age of 65. After an extensive and noble battle with cancer, he now gracefully rests in peace and power.”

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French museum removes Gérard Depardieu waxwork after assault claims

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Likeness on display at Grévin Museum since 1981 is removed as allegations against actor are back in spotlight

A French museum has removed a wax likeness of Gérard Depardieu, the latest measure taken against the actor since he faced allegations of sexual assault.

The Grévin Museum in Paris said on Monday it had taken away the waxwork “following the negative reactions of visitors” passing in front of it, as well as comments on social media.

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Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee accused of sexual assault

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Rock star is sued by unnamed woman who alleges he attacked her on board helicopter in 2003

Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee has been accused of sexual assault, in an incident in 2003.

A new civil lawsuit filed on Friday by an unnamed woman, Jane Doe – and reported by Rolling Stone – accuses Lee of “forcibly groping, kissing and penetrating her with his fingers, and attempting to force her to perform oral copulation”. The woman had been invited on to a helicopter by pilot David Martz and believed she would be on a sightseeing tour around San Diego, but was told they would be flying with Lee to Los Angeles.

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Tracey Emin recovering in Thailand after her ‘intestine nearly exploded’

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British artist, who has undergone multiple surgeries for cancer, says ‘horrible complications’ in her intestine were ‘made a million times worse by flying’

Renowned British artist Tracey Emin is recovering in Thailand after her small intestine “nearly exploded” due to complications after an operation.

Emin, one of Britain’s best-known living artists, has battled cancer and undergone major surgery in recent years. On Sunday she shared on Instagram that she has been “very unwell” and felt she had used “another one of my nine lives”.

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Royal Albert Hall 12-seat private box offered for sale … at £3m

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For the price, and £13,795 a year towards the venue’s upkeep, the owners will be able to attend events for the next 843 years

If you’re looking for a last-minute Christmas present and have about £3m to spare, a private 12-seat box at the Royal Albert Hall is available, entitling its owners to attend concerts and events at the world-famous London venue for the next 843 years.

The marketing of Grand Tier box 14 comes amid controversy over the RAH’s plans to sell dozens of extra seats to investors. Some “seat holders” have been disposing of unwanted seats for events at highly inflated prices through third-party ticket sites such as Viagogo.

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Favourites Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola win this year’s Strictly Come Dancing

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The ex-Coronation Street actor grew and grew over the series, while her partner went one better than his runner-up placing last year

It was a night of high-quality hoofing, high scores and high camp but ultimately, the Strictly Come Dancing final went the way that bookmakers predicted. Odds-on favourite Ellie Leach and her professional partner, Vito Coppola, were crowned champions. As they lifted the glitter ball trophy and sparkly confetti fell, it made a fitting climax to another feelgood series.

Former Coronation Street actor Leach, 22, had blossomed before viewers’ eyes. Initially an unfancied contender, she visibly grew in confidence to become a pocket rocket performer.

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Darlene Love says U2’s cover of her Christmas classic is best around

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US singer of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), recorded in 1963, says she rates U2’s 1987 version as finest of many covers

Darlene Love’s classic tune Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) has spurred numerous covers over the years, but to the singer herself, only one stands above the rest, she recently revealed.

Speaking on the podcast Behind the Table, Love, 82, said U2’s rendition of her hit Christmas song is the best cover.

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Australian TV shows including Home and Away handed tax breaks in battle against Hollywood

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‘We want to see more Australian stories shown on screen,’ arts minister Tony Burke says

Australian television shows such as Home and Away will be able to compete on a level playing field with Hollywood streaming companies such as Netflix, Apple Tv and Disney+, after federal government changes to tax laws in the industry.

Australian producers have long complained that local productions are unfairly disadvantaged because the tax breaks offered to the industry only apply to mega-budget productions that invariably only Hollywood studios can afford in Australia.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm: Larry David comedy to end after 12 seasons

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‘I will now have the opportunity to finally shed this “Larry David” persona and become the person God intended me to be,’ star says

After almost 25 years playing Larry David, Larry David has announced that his award-winning comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm is ending with the next season.

The Seinfeld co-creator has played a curmudgeonly version of himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm since 2000, making it HBO’s longest-running comedy. Much like Seinfeld, the show draws on the humour in everyday life but the dialogue is mostly improvised around an outline written by David, who plays a semi-retired television writer.

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Andre Braugher died of lung cancer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor’s publicist says

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Emmy-winning actor, who also starred in Homicide: Life on the Street, died at age 61

Andre Braugher died from lung cancer, a representative said on Thursday.

When the Emmy-winning actor who starred in the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Homicide: Life on the Street died on Monday at age 61, his representatives said only that he had been through a brief illness, but his publicist Jennifer Allen gave the cause on Thursday.

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Parthenon marbles should return to Athens, says Lord Frost

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Architect of Brexit calls for closer Anglo-Greek cultural ties, with sections held elsewhere in Europe also sent back

Britain should be part of a pan-European effort to bring the Parthenon marbles back to Greece, according to an architect of Brexit, who said the UK should make a grand gesture to create closer diplomatic and cultural relations between the two countries.

David Frost, a chief Brexit negotiator, called for a deal between Britain and Greece that would put the long-running dispute to bed, with the sculptures returned to Greece for the first time since the early 1800s when they were taken by Lord Elgin. At present they are in the British Museum’s collection.

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Patti Smith ‘in good health’ after being hospitalised in Italy

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Singer suffers sudden illness while on tour and cancels remainder of dates

Patti Smith has been briefly hospitalised following an illness while on tour in Italy.

The 76-year-old singer had been due to perform in Bologna but she cancelled the concert after suffering what the city’s Teatro Duse venue described as a “sudden illness”.

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Boat-shaped church and radar station among English heritage list newcomers

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Historic England highlights ‘remarkable gems’ among 227 places added to national list in 2023

An intact second world war radar station and a 1960s church that resembles an upturned boat have joined some of England’s grandest buildings on the national heritage list.

Historic England singled out 16 “remarkable historic gems” that had been added to the list or had their entries updated in 2023. They include a 400-year-old structure regarded as England’s earliest known “modern-day car wash”, an unusually long railway footbridge, an iron age cave and a Manchester primary school that still has its flashy art nouveau tiling from more than a century ago.

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Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor, dies aged 61

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The actor who played the deadpan Captain Raymond Holt and starred in Homicide: Life on the Street, has died after a brief illness

Andre Braugher, who starred as Captain Raymond Holt in the hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and as Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street, has died aged 61.

The actor died on Monday after a brief illness, his publicist confirmed.

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Indhu Rubasingham chosen as National Theatre’s next director

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Artistic director of the Kiln theatre will take over from Rufus Norris in spring 2025

Indhu Rubasingham has been announced as the next director of the National Theatre, marking the first time that a woman and a person of colour has taken on the biggest role in British theatre.

Rubasingham, who has been artistic director of the Kiln theatre since 2012, will take over from Rufus Norris in spring 2025, when his second term ends. She and Kate Varah will also become joint chief executives in a co-leadership model.

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Zahara, platinum-selling South African singer-songwriter, dies aged 35

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Singer who played for Nelson Mandela at his home had been hospitalised with ‘physical pains’, and previously suffered liver damage from alcoholism

The South African pop singer Zahara, whose soaring voice and strident ballads earned her multiple platinum-selling albums in her home country, has died aged 35.

South Africa’s sports, arts and culture minister, Zizi Kodwa, announced her death, saying: “My deepest condolences to the Mkutukana family and the South African music industry. Government has been with the family for some time now. Zahara and her guitar made an incredible and lasting impact in South African music.”

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Denzel Washington’s casting as Hannibal in Netflix film sparks race controversy in Tunisia

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Newspapers and politicians discuss general’s skin tone, saying actor’s casting in the role created ‘a historical error’

A decision to cast black actor Denzel Washington as the ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal in an upcoming Netflix film has sparked a small but heated debate in Tunisia, the military general’s birthplace.

After a similar controversy on race and representation in nearby Egypt over a Netflix docudrama about Cleopatra, Tunisian newspapers, social media and even the halls of parliament have seen discussion on the skin tone of the long-dead leader.

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Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘final’ film The Boy and the Heron hits No 1 at North American box office

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The Japanese director’s animation beats The Hunger Games prequel and Godzilla Minus One on its opening weekend in the US and Canada

The Boy and the Heron, reportedly the final film from Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki, has taken the number one spot at the box office on its North American release, as well as achieving record figures for the director.

Preliminary box office returns report that The Boy and the Heron took $12.8m in the US and Canada on its opening weekend, putting it a significant distance ahead of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which managed $9.4m. In third place was another Japanese film, the monster movie Godzilla Minus One, on $8.3m.

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Groundbreaking graphic novel on Gaza rushed back into print 20 years on

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When Joe Sacco created Palestine no one knew what ‘comics journalism’ was. Now his pioneering book has eager new readers

An acclaimed nonfiction graphic novel about Gaza, which pioneered the medium of “comics journalism”, has been rushed back into print after surging demand since the fresh outbreak of the conflict two months ago.

Palestine, by Joe Sacco, was originally released in comic book form by the American publisher Fantagraphics 30 years ago, then published as a single volume by the company, and by Jonathan Cape in the UK in 2003.

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African writer ruined by row with Graham Greene finally gets chance to shine

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Fifty years after being accused of plagiarism, book is reissued in a bid to rehabilitate gifted Malian author Yambo Ouologuem

In 1968 the books pages of the French newspaper Le Monde excitedly praised an uncompromising new novel, Bound to Violence, going on to salute its author as one of “the rare intellectuals of international stature presented to the world by Black Africa”.

The newspaper’s words, written in tribute to the young Malian writer Yambo Ouologuem, sound condescending today. Back then, however, the intended compliment was genuine and many European critics soon agreed: the publication of Ouologuem’s strange novel really did mark the arrival of a major new talent.

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