Rickman to make Broadway return

29 June 2011 Last updated at 09:16 GMT Rickman received Tony nominations in 1987 and 2002 British actor Alan Rickman is returning to Broadway to star in the world premiere of Theresa Rebeck's new play Seminar.

The star, who has been nominated twice for a Tony award, will play a literary legend who teaches four young awe-struck young writers.

The production will be directed by Sam Gold and will open at the Shubert theatre later this year.

Seminar is Rebeck's first Broadway play since Mauritius in 2007.

Rickman received Tony nominations for the 1987 production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses and for the 2002 revival of Private Lives.

Gold, who scooped an Obie award (Off-Broadway Theatre Awards) for directing Circle Mirror Transformation and The Aliens will be making his Broadway debut with Seminar.

Rickman's film credits include Truly Madly Deeply, Love Actually, Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland.

He also starred alongside Daniel Radcliffe in the Harry Potter franchise as professor Severus Snape.

Radcliffe has recently been performing on Broadway too, singing show tunes in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The actor made his Broadway debut in a revival of Equus.

Rebeck is an established writer for stage, television and cinema. Her other plays include The Scene, The Water's Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and The Understudy.

LA Law, NYPD Blue are among Rebeck's TV credits as are Catwoman and Gossip for the cinema.

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Brit triumphs in French X Factor

29 June 2011 Last updated at 12:14 GMT Matthew Raymond-Barker: 'I don't have any idea why I won'

A British student who was knocked out in the early stages of the UK's X Factor has gone on to win the French version of the show.

Matthew Raymond-Barker, a 22-year-old language student from London, won in the final on Tuesday night.

He decided to give X Factor a second shot while he was studying in Toulouse.

He told BBC World Service that being English in a French competition may have helped him stand out.

Mr Raymond-Barker and his challenger Marina D'Amico, aged just 17, performed alongside international stars Beyonce and Bruno Mars in the final.

He beat Ms D'Amico by just 1,300 votes, and was visibly shocked when the result was announced live on French TV.

He thanked all those who had helped and supported him throughout the competition, before exclaiming, in English, "I don't believe it!"

Second chance

On the night of the final he sang Tik Tok by Kesha, a medley of Love The Way You Lie and Don't Stop the Music by Eminem and Rihanna, Vivre Ou Survivre by Daniel Balavoine, and Michael Jackson's Man in The Mirror.

Though he clearly struggled to hit some of the highest notes on the latter, the jury praised his energy, his presence on stage, and his progress throughout the competition.

Matthew Raymond-Barker sung in both English and French throughout the contest.

He admits his spoken French was "a bit iffy" when he first arrived in the country, but he is now fluent, and thinks the French appreciated the "massive effort" he made with the language.

And he was much more relaxed second time round.

"I thought I've got nothing to lose - it's going to be a good experience whatever happens.

"I just had the aim to go one step further than I did in the UK, but it obviously worked out a lot better!"

Not the 'lazy' way

"I was just trying really, really hard to do my best here," Mr Raymond-Barker told the BBC.

"I'm not the best singer in the world, believe me, but I just try really hard.

"I know people say that X Factor is the really quick way to do it - like it's the lazy way - but it can show your determination.

The jury praised the British singer's energy

"I'm not going to pretend it didn't hurt when I was rejected from the UK competition - I cried on the way back on the Tube!"

So what's next for Matthew Raymond-Barker?

"I think I'll be staying in France for the time being, and then hopefully in the future I can spread my wings and fly to many different countries."

He has won a recording contract and his first single, Vivre Ou Survivre - which he sang last night - will be released on Saturday.

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Booker judge admits Roth division

29 June 2011 Last updated at 10:42 GMT Philip Roth did not attend Tuesday's ceremony on the grounds of ill health The Booker International Prize judging panel was "animated by disagreement" over the decision to recognise author Philip Roth, its chairman has revealed.

"When you judge a literary prize, taste and judgement collide [and] egos can be bruised," said Dr Rick Gekoski at an awards ceremony in central London.

Roth, 78, did not attend the event, but sent a short film instead.

One of the judges, feminist publisher Carmen Callil, resigned in protest over his selection in May.

The prize made headlines earlier this year when spy novelist John le Carre asked for his name to be taken off the shortlist.

The award has previously been presented to Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, Nigeria's Chinua Achebe and Canadian author Alice Munro.

Speaking on Tuesday, Dr Gekoski saluted Callil's "ferocious commitment" while acknowledging Roth's work divided opinion.

"I can recall few of his novels that don't provoke an occasional but overwhelming desire to shout 'will you shut up!' at a character or his author," he told an audience at London's Banqueting House.

"How often, reading him, do we pause for breath, put the book down, pace about, sit down, chuck a pail of water over our heads?

"The challenge is inexorable, and sometimes infuriating," he continued. "As a reader you cannot but respond, and you have a choice.

Author and publisher Dr Rick Gekoski chaired the three-person panel

"You can decide that you are being bullied, hectored, asked too much for too little, and walk away.

"Or you may believe, as I do, that the fierceness of the demands of a Roth novel is so potent... that you are positively anxious to come out for the next round."

Roth, the fourth recipient of the Man Booker International Prize, is best known for his controversial 1969 novel Portnoy's Complaint.

His other books include Goodbye, Columbus, American Pastoral - for which he received the Pulitzer Prize - and 2010's Nemesis.

Roth read the final pages of the latter work in his film, saying they represented "the end of the line after 31 books".

Set during World War II, Nemesis - described as "masterful" by Dr Gekoski - tells of a polio outbreak in New Jersey.

In May, Callil said she withdrew from the Man Booker panel after her fellow judges decided to give Roth the ?60,000 prize.

"I don't rate him as a writer at all," she told the Guardian. "He goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book."

Over a long and distinguished career, Roth has been censured by some for his alleged misogyny and attacked by others for his purported anti-semitism.

Speaking to the BBC's Front Row programme this month, the author said such critics of his work were "cuckoo" and "don't know what they are talking about".

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Francis Bacon work sells for £18m

29 June 2011 Last updated at 07:56 GMT An anonymous telephone bidder bought the Francis Bacon portrait A Francis Bacon painting has sold for nearly ?18m at auction in London on Tuesday.

Study for a Portrait 1953 exceeded expectation as Christie's had valued the masterpiece at ?11m.

The oil canvas, which has not been up for auction before, was described as "an arresting and dark study in the degradation of power".

It was previously owned by two of Bacon's contemporaries - Rodrigo Moynihan and Louis Le Brocquy.

The work was the second most valuable piece to be sold at one of Christie's post-war and contemporary art sales, a spokesperson said.

The highest selling work in this category was Bacon's Triptych, which went for ?26.3m in February 2008.

Other items sold at Tuesday's auction included Lucian Freud's Woman Smiling, 1958-59, which went for ?4.7m. Seven works from the collection of Kay Saatchi went for a total of ?3.9m.

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Taylor's items to tour the world

29 June 2011 Last updated at 13:25 GMT Dame Elizabeth Taylor was well known for her glamorous lifestyle Dame Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewellery, art and designer clothing will be exhibited around the world, Christie's auction house has announced.

The three-month tour will start in September and include stops in Moscow, London and Dubai before the items are sold at an auction in New York.

Known for her love of diamonds, the actress owned some of the world's most expensive stones.

The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation will receive proceeds from the exhibit.

The actress, whose film credits included National Velvet, Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? died in Los Angeles earlier this year, aged 79.

Some of her jewels were displayed after she wrote a book in 2003 entitled Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewellery.

Christie's has pledged to devote its entire Rockefeller Center gallery space to the public exhibition and sales, which are expected to draw thousands of visitors.

Marc Porter, from the auction house, said: "The global tour and exhibition of her collection at Christie's will be a window into the world of a true icon, a rare woman who was at once an international film and fashion star, loving mother, successful businesswoman, and generous humanitarian.

"This collection of her many cherished possessions will bring us closer to the essence of Elizabeth Taylor's unique spirit, and promises to inspire admiration, delight and, at times, sheer wonder in all who come to see it."

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Conran donates to Design Museum

29 June 2011 Last updated at 13:00 GMT Sir Terence's gift will help the museum's relocation to a space with more room for exhibitions Designer Sir Terence Conran donates ?7.5m towards a project to develop London's Design Museum.

Trustees of the museum said the cash gift would "help to create the world's leading museum of contemporary design and architecture in London".

The museum is relocating from its current site at Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building to make more space.

Sir Terence has also pledged the lease value of the sale to the project.

'The best museum'

The designer - who turns 80 this year - currently owns the lease on the building, which is thought to be worth ?10m.

The donation, combined with financial support over the last 30 years, brings the Conran Foundation's contribution to the museum and its predecessor to ?50m.

"It is my ambition to have the world's greatest design museum. We are thought of as the greatest creative nation in the world so why not have the best, most beautiful design museum?" Sir Terence told the BBC.

He added that they "simply don't have the space at the moment" in the existing Thameside facility, while the task of raising the remainder of the money for the project has been "made much easier by the government's enthusiasm for design".

But Sir Terence denies that his name should be enshrined in the new museum.

"No no no, I'm not Tate. Modesty is an important thing in design," he said.

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport praised Sir Terence's altruism.

"Sir Terence's exceptionally generous gift to the Design Museum will not only help this excellent cultural institution move to a new home, but will also help showcase Britain's ability to produce some of the world's greatest designers and influence design on a global scale."

The 1960s Commonwealth Institute building in west London, which has been empty since 2001, is expected to create three times more space for exhibitions.

John Pawson is to convert the interior and Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) will create the surrounding development.

The project is expected to be completed by 2014.

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Arts Council in philanthropy plan

29 June 2011 Last updated at 11:54 GMT Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said philanthropy "underpins the cultural life of the nation" Details of a ?40m fund to boost private giving to the arts - part of a year-old government drive to increase philanthropy in arts and culture - have been unveiled by Arts Council England.

The Catalyst Arts fund, it said, will "help build the long-term resilience of arts organisations by increasing their fundraising potential".

The announcement coincides with the start of a three-month consultation over proposals to give new tax breaks to wealthy philanthropists who donate works of art to the nation.

"We want to make it easier for people to give in a range of ways and at different stages in their life," said Justine Greening, economic secretary to the Treasury.

Under the Arts Council initiative, ?30m of Lottery funds will be invested in a match-funding scheme to increase arts organisations' ability to fundraise.

Match-funding is where an organisation undertakes to raise a certain amount from private giving that will then be matched by Lottery funds.

It is hoped the money - available to organisations with prior experience of fundraising - will enable arts organisations to generate around ?25 million of new money by 2015.

Smaller awards will be made available to arts organisations with less experience of fundraising to help them build their fundraising capacity.

Alan Davey, chief executive of Arts Council England, said the money would enable them "to build their skills and test new fundraising ideas".

Uses for the money could range from increased training for staff to making organisations "more attractive" to donors, a spokeswoman told the BBC News website.

'Challenge'

According to the Treasury, the government's new scheme will encourage people to donate pre-eminent objects or works of art to the nation.

In return they will receive a reduction in their tax liability, based on a set percentage of the value of the object they are donating.

"With increasing international competition and a very strong art market, the UK faces a challenge in securing new acquisitions," said Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.

The consultation - which will seek to establish who will be eligible to apply - runs until 21 September.

According to the Treasury, the scheme will complement plans to reduce the rate of inheritance tax for people who donate to charity on their death.

In 2009/10, individual philanthropists donated more than ?350m to the arts in the UK.

Yet the vast majority of that money went to the top 4% of organisations, while the amount of money businesses invested fell by 11%.

The Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria is one of many arts organisations to have benefited from a wealthy benefactor.

The ?30,000 it has received from Lady Sainsbury of Turville is the largest private gift it has received, according to the Guardian.

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Complaining to BBC 'too complex'

29 June 2011 Last updated at 00:13 GMT The peers said the BBC had a "singular role in the life of the country" The BBC's complaints process is "convoluted" and "overly complicated", a group of peers has said.

The Lords communications committee said it was hard for viewers, listeners and web users to know whom to contact. and proposed a complaints "one-stop shop".

Part of the problem was that the roles of the BBC Trust and watchdog Ofcom overlapped, the report added.

The BBC Trust said new chairman Lord Patten was looking at the issues as part of his review of BBC governance.

'Grisly'

The Lords committee said the BBC had a "singular role in the life of the country and... provides an extraordinary public benefit", but there were a number of areas in which it could be improved.

Peers said the BBC should set out a clear explanation of its complaints process on its website, so that licence fee payers knew what they could expect.

There should also be a single point of contact for all complaints, regardless of whether they applied to television, radio or online material, they said.

Giving evidence to the committee, former BBC chairman Lord Grade described his experience, since leaving his role, of complaining to the corporation as "grisly" due to a system he said was "absolutely hopeless".

Part of the problem, the peers said, was that there was an overlap in the jurisdiction of the BBC Trust - the BBC's governing body - and the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.

And despite Ofcom having the final say in all other areas, the BBC Trust has responsibility for matters of impartiality and accuracy.

This situation - in which the BBC was "judge and jury in its own case" - was undesirable and should not continue, the peers said.

The committee called for all complaints to be made to the BBC in the first instance, followed by a right of appeal to the BBC Trust and a subsequent final appeal to Ofcom if the complainant was not happy with the trust's decision.

The media regulator should also have final responsibility for impartiality and accuracy, it added.

'Structured reality'

Committee chairman Lord Inglewood said: "Ultimately, the BBC needs to be accountable to those who use and pay for it, at the same time as having the independence of its journalism, broadcasting and creativity protected from outside political interference."

The committee also warned that BBC creativity must not be "stifled by overly bureaucratic compliance culture".

And it said the BBC - and other broadcasters - must make greater efforts to help viewers discern "what is reality, reconstructed and constructed footage".

Potential issues could arise because of the increased use of digital technology and the growth of "constructed reality" or "structured reality" programmes, it added.

A BBC Trust spokesman said: "We welcome the committee's report and we note their recommendations on the BBC complaints process.

"This, and a number of other issues the committee have raised, are being looked at as part of Lord Patten's governance review. The committee's recommendations will feed into the conclusions of the review."

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Sultans of twang

29 June 2011 Last updated at 01:54 GMT By Ian Youngs Entertainment reporter, BBC News US rock pioneer Duane Eddy shows David Sillito how to twang

US rock pioneer Duane Eddy, whose sound influenced artists from The Beatles to Blondie, has returned with his first album in 25 years, recorded in Sheffield with local hero Richard Hawley.

"I'm 73 years old, I should be home by the fireplace burning old records or something. Or burning old record companies' papers."

Duane Eddy is ruminating on how he came to be sitting in the back room of a pub in Sheffield before a gig to promote his new album, rather than in a rocking chair back home in Nashville.

"I don't know. I should be doing something other than this. But this is great and I'm loving it."

The guitarist, whose trademark twangy instrumentals made him one of the biggest stars of the late 1950s and early '60s, is enjoying an unexpected career revival.

Famous fans Duane Eddy was one of the first stars of the rock 'n' roll era

A year ago, he was taking things easy with his wife, Deed, and looking back on a career that he thought had "gone past the due date", as he puts it.

When his last album was released in 1987, it featured famous fans like Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Ry Cooder.

Despite the big-name guests, it flopped - which Eddy blames on upheaval at the record company - and he says labels were "surely not going to touch me again after that".

But after popping up at occasional gigs and on film soundtracks, he was invited to Mojo magazine's award ceremony in London a year ago, where he was presented with an Icon Award. "Whatever that is," he mutters.

Hawley, a singer-songwriter with a fondness for the style and sounds of early rock 'n' roll, was there too, picking up the album of the year award. A "real" award, as Eddy describes it.

"I'd already known about him before that," Eddy says of the Sheffield-born star. "I'd listened to his albums and loved the sound of them.

"I told him I would wish that I'd been there [in the studio] so I could jump in and play a solo on some of them."

Hawley's reply was: "Well, we might arrange something like that."

Eddy's status as a rock 'n' roll legend has been assured for decades.

His record company first used the word "legend" on the back of a record sleeve when he was 23 years old, he says, after such hits as Rebel Rouser, Peter Gunn and Cannonball.

Richard Hawley (left) and Duane Eddy have been playing a series of gigs together

Eddy recalls: "At the time I was pretty excited and thought, wow, am I a legend already? Wowee! I wonder how I'm supposed to act now."

He went on to sell more than 100 million records and echoes of his distinctive slow twang come through loud and clear on The Beatles' Day Tripper, Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run and Blondie's Atomic.

Hawley first discovered him when he was given an Eddy EP at the age of six.

'He's got grace'

"Duane's one of the best guitar players that ever walked the earth. The end," Hawley declares.

"It's as much about the spaces between the notes as well as the notes themselves. He's very graceful, and a lot of guitar players ain't got that grace that Duane's got."

Hawley offered to produce a new album with Eddy, and invited him to record with his band at Sheffield's Yellow Arch Studios.

The Sheffield sound made by Hawley and his cohorts was something that Eddy, who grew up in Arizona, could immediately identify with, he says.

Eddy was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1994

"It could be the south west desert, it could be the Yorkshire moors. Either way, it's still a wide open sound."

The album Road Trip was recorded the old-fashioned way - laid down live in just 11 days.

And during time off, Hawley showed Eddy the Peak District countryside, which the American describes as "some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen", and gave him a taste of the local nightlife.

"I took him to a Fagan's pub a couple of times," Hawley says. "We had fish and chips and Guinness."

The pair have returned to the city for an intimate concert at the Greystones pub, one of Hawley's favourite haunts, as well as appearing together at the Glastonbury Festival and the 100 Club in London.

And Eddy seems to be taking genuine delight in being wanted again.

He says: "When people come right out, like Bruce Springsteen or John Fogerty, and say: 'Duane was a big influence,' that's just one of the perks and rewards of what I did.

"That's worth more to me than money and the fame. That goes right to the heart.

Turning to Hawley, Eddy adds: "When he says he's influenced by my sound, that's the biggest compliment I can have."

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Artists 'hit by UK visa system'

27 June 2011 Last updated at 15:38 GMT Salman Rushdie is among the high profile signatories Philip Pullman is among those who have signed a letter saying the UK's points-based visa system is "inappropriate for short-term visits by artists".

The letter in the Daily Telegraph, signed by nearly 100 names from the arts world, says non-European artists are "poorly treated."

The group says the points system, introduced in 2008, is "needlessly bureaucratic and intrusive".

Other signatories include Sir Nicholas Hytner, Salman Rushdie and David Hare.

Bridget Riley, Sir Nicholas Serota, Dame Antonia Fraser, Michael Morpurgo, Hanif Kureishi, Mark Haddon and Sarah Waters also endorsed the letter.

It suggests that "as short-term visits by artists have no impact on migration, there is no need to administer their entry via the points-based system."

The group have called on the government to allow artists to circumvent the points system, as is the case "for entertainers who attend festivals."

The letter claimed that Cannes Palme d'Or-winning director Abbas Kiarostami and acclaimed concert pianist Grigory Sokolov "have been dissuaded from future visits."

It also states that organisations who sponsor such artists to visit the UK cannot afford the cost of the applications and are put off by the amount of red tape involved.

The points-based system awards points to migrants based on their skills, qualifications and experience.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: "Creative artists from across the world are welcome to come and perform in the UK. As part of our commitment to the industry, we work with organisers of international events to ensure they are aware of the application process and are able to help facilitate urgent cases.

"However, as with any visitors to the UK, we expect individuals to meet our entry requirements."

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Honorary award for Jools Holland

26 June 2011 Last updated at 23:48 GMT Holland was awarded an OBE in 2003

Presenter Jools Holland is to be honoured for his contribution to music and broadcasting.

The 53-year-old will receive the Music Industry Trusts' Award at London's Grosvenor House Hotel on 7 November.

Chairman of the award committee, David Munns, said they were looking for "someone special for our 20th anniversary".

"There is no one in the UK more associated with popularising music than Jools," he added.

More than 1,000 guests will attend the charity event in aid of Nordoff Robbins and the BRIT Trust.

Previous recipients of the award include Sir Tom Jones, Sir Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Other past recipients have included Beatles producer Sir George Martin, James Bond composer John Barry and Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic Records.

Lifelong passion

Holland, whose careers has spanned some 30 years, said it was "wonderful to be honoured".

"My lifelong passion is music, and I've been so lucky to be able to indulge this for more years than I care to think about."

The musician started playing piano at an early age, and was a founding member of the group Squeeze in 1974. In 1987, he formed his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, which continues to tour today.

He has presented Later... With Jools Holland since 1992, and was awarded an OBE in 2003 for his services to the British music industry.

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Choral story

28 June 2011 Last updated at 07:03 GMT By Ian Youngs Arts reporter, BBC News Victoria Wood has written and directs That Day We Sang, which she describes as "a play with music" Victoria Wood is telling the story of a 1920s children's choir in a stage show that will premiere at this year's Manchester International Festival.

In 1925, some 250 working class children from more than 50 schools across Manchester were recruited for a choir that would go down in musical history.

They rehearsed twice a week, and by 1929 were deemed good enough to make a recording with the prestigious Halle Orchestra by its principal conductor Sir Hamilton Harty.

Together, they recorded Henry Purcell's Nymphs and Shepherds at the Free Trade Hall. The angelic performance made the resulting 78rpm record a surprise hit.

Forty-five years later, Thames Television reunited some of the choristers for a documentary about that day.

A 21-year-old Victoria Wood happened to be watching. And the tale of those children, and what became of them, has stayed with the comedian ever since.

"I've always thought it would make a good story, of the children making that record," Wood says.

"It's a famous record and it was very unusual for schoolchildren to be making a record in 1929, especially with the Halle Orchestra."

'Wonderful quality'

The crackly recording has an ethereal quality that has helped it speak across the decades, Wood explains.

"There's just something about the sound of it - I don't know whether it's because it was recorded on one microphone, and so it doesn't sound like a modern record, or whether it's because they sing really fast.

"I don't know what it is. There's some wonderful quality about it that I find very touching."

When the Manchester International Festival asked Wood, from Bury, for ideas for any Manchester-related shows, she immediately thought about recreating that recording.

Some 100 local schoolchildren have formed a new choir to sing Nymphs and Shepherds on stage

"My starting point was to reconstruct that event," she says. "But then I thought actually just to reconstruct that event, that's not a play, that's just a kids' concert.

"And so I started to weave in this story of what those kids might be like 40 years down the line."

The result is That Day We Sang, which she describes as "a play with music".

"This isn't a musical," she insists. "This is a play with songs - slightly different."

So the play flits between 1929, using a choir of 100 current schoolchildren, and 1969, when the middle-aged former choristers are reunited.

It centres on Tubby, now an overweight insurance man, and Enid, a secretary, who reflect on where the decades have gone.

"They're reunited for a news interview on local telly," Wood explains. "This is something that Tubby hasn't heard for many, many years.

"Just hearing that music and thinking about that day and thinking about who is was then and who he is now - it emboldens him to make a change in his life and make a move towards having a relationship with somebody."

Wood is now 58 and is entitled to reflect on three decades of distinction on stage and screen, and can be comfortable in her position as a cosy national presence whose comic and dramatic touches rarely disappoint.

But as the story is about people looking back on missed opportunities and seeking to change their lives, does it reflect anything she has been thinking about herself?

The Thick Of It and Twenty Twelve's Vincent Franklin will play the character of Tubby

She responds vaguely about things that she writes being "always something to do with what you're thinking about, but you don't even know what you're thinking about until you write".

"What you think you're thinking about is a choir and two middle-aged people. You actually may be thinking about lots of other things that probably are to do with your own life or you own emotions," she adds.

And then she avoids going further by saying that she does not want to draw comparisons with her own life because the audience must be able to interpret the story in their own way.

Wood has written and directs the show, but will not appear herself.

Vincent Franklin, who has appeared in TV comedies The Thick Of It and Twenty Twelve, will play Tubby, with Olivier Award-winning actress Jenna Russell as Enid.

The new children's choir comprises pupils from three primary schools and one secondary in north Manchester.

Schools' benefits

As well as giving them experience on stage, the choir will also benefit the children with the transition between schools, Wood explains.

"They think it will help those children who are in primary school. It will give them a better bridge and a better understanding of what it's like to be in secondary school."

That Day We Sang is one of the most high-profile events at the festival, which kicks off on Thursday and also includes new work by Bjork, Damon Albarn and theatre company Punchdrunk.

And it is a return to Manchester for Wood, whose tour of Acorn Antiques: The Musical! opened in Salford in 2006.

"I haven't done a big theatre piece for a few years, it's mainly been TV stuff," she says.

The festival, she explains, is "just a chance to do something you couldn't do in any other situation".

"It is a story about Manchester for Manchester," she adds.

That Day We Sang runs at the Manchester Opera House from 6-17 July.

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Bond star Craig weds Rachel Weisz

26 June 2011 Last updated at 10:04 GMT Weisz and Craig play a married couple in forthcoming film Dream House

Bond star Daniel Craig has married Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz, Craig's publicist has confirmed.

Craig, 43, the sixth actor to play the coveted secret agent role, is reported to have married Weisz, 41, at a private ceremony in New York.

Weisz won best supporting actress at the Academy Awards in 2006, for The Constant Gardener.

The British stars, who play a married couple in new film Dream House, have reportedly been dating since December.

Publicist Robin Baun, representing the James Bond actor, confirmed the pair had married, but did not offer any details.

Critical acclaim

Craig, whose revamped portrayal of James Bond in 2006's Casino Royale was critically acclaimed, will make his third outing as 007 in October 2012.

He came to public attention with roles in Layer Cake, The Mother and Enduring Love.

He is due to star in the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which will be released later this year.

Weisz, whose films include The Mummy, About A Boy and The Lovely Bones, was previously married to Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, with whom she has a five-year-old son Henry.

Craig has one daughter, Ella, from his previous marriage to Fiona Loudon, which ended in 1994.

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Playwright Lyubimov quits theatre

27 June 2011 Last updated at 12:18 GMT Lyubimov is an honorary citizen of several cities around the world Celebrated Russian playwright Yuri Lyubimov has left the theatre company he has led for nearly half a century.

Lyubimov, 93, founded Moscow's Taganka Theatre in 1964 but fell out with its actors over pay during a Czech tour.

"I confirm I have taken my final decision - to leave the theatre," Lyubimov told the RIA Novosti news agency on Saturday.

"I have no intention of working with this troupe. Let them be led by their trade union," he added.

"I've had enough of this disgrace, these humiliations, this lack of desire to work, this desire just for money."

The dispute came to a head just before a performance of Bertolt Brecht's play The Good Person of Szechwan, when the actors refused to rehearse unless they were paid first.

One of the theatre's leading actors, Tatyana Sidorenko, denied that she and her colleagues had threatened not to perform.

"We just wanted to be paid for our work," she told the Echo Moscow.

Lyubimov is one of the leading names in the Russian theatre world.

He was well known for his work with late actor Vladimir Vysotsky, who was famous for his social commentary songs.

Lyubimov lost his Soviet citizenship in 1984 after he gave an interview to The Times newspaper while putting on a play in London, but was taken back into the fold in the late 1980s and given back his passport.

During his exile he worked abroad and returned to the Taganka in 1989.

Lyubimov's productions with the Taganka include Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, Chekov's Three Sisters and Zhivago by Pasternak.

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Singer Annie Lennox collects OBE

28 June 2011 Last updated at 14:05 GMT Annie Lennox collects an OBE from the Queen. Video courtesy British Ceremonial Arts.

Singer Annie Lennox has collected an OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for her charity work fighting Aids and poverty in Africa.

The former Eurythmics singer, 56, said: "It's quite magical. It's really meaningful to me that it's for charity work.

"To get this acknowlegement means people are listening," she added following the investiture ceremony.

Lennox was accompanied by her daughters Tali and Lola.

"Campaigning has been taking up a great deal of my commitment for quite a few years, and what it means is that there's a significance to what I'm doing - I'm not just working in a void," said the star.

She added that she had been "so affected" by the issue of human rights, especially where women and girls in the developing world were concerned.

Lennox is an Oxfam ambassador and founded the Sing campaign to raise awareness of Aids in Africa.

Lennox's foundation of Sing in 2007 was inspired by Nelson Mandela to help children and women affected by the illness.

The musician is also a Unesco Goodwill Ambassador for Aids and a prominent peace activist.

Lennox has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide with the Eurythmics and as a solo artist.

The singer released her latest album in November - A Christmas Cornucopia - topping off three decades of UK chart hits.

She has collected the Best Female Singer title at the Brit Awards on six different occasions.

An exhibition of the life and inspirations of Lennox is set to go on show later this year.

The Aberdeen-born star will feature in a display at London's Victoria and Albert museum for five months from 15 September.

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Cars 2 races to top of box office

27 June 2011 Last updated at 09:12 GMT Owen Wilson provides the voice of racing car Lightning McQueen Pixar sequel Cars 2 has sped to the top of the North American box office, despite critics calling it the worst movie produced by the animation studio.

The film, which features the voice of Owen Wilson as racing car Lightning McQueen, took $68m (?42.6m) in its first three days.

Cameron Diaz classroom comedy Bad Teacher opened at two with $31m (?19m).

While last week's number one, superhero film Green Lantern, fell two places to three with $18.4m (?11.5m).

Cars 2 is the 12th consecutive number one film for Pixar since its first movie, Toy Story, in 1995.

The first Cars movie made $60m (?37.5m) in its opening weekend in 2006, but taking into account today's higher admission prices, it sold more tickets than its sequel.

Critics were unkind to the new film, which sees the main characters head to Japan and Europe for Grand Prix races.

The Wall Street Journal said the film "seldom gets beyond mediocrity," while the Chicago Tribune said it was "virtually joke-free".

But Disney, which owns Pixar, said cinema-goers rated the film highly in exit surveys.

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Forsyte Saga actress Tyzack dies

28 June 2011 Last updated at 15:04 GMT Margaret Tyzack played Antonia in I, Claudius Actress Margaret Tyzack has died after a brief illness, her agent has said.

The 79-year-old made her name in the Forsyte Saga and recently appeared in BBC One soap opera EastEnders, but had to withdraw after a short stint.

Her agent said Tyzack, who is thought to have had cancer, "died peacefully at home" on Saturday with her family by her side.

A statement issued by her agent said the actress "will be greatly missed by her family and friends".

It said she will be remembered for "her outstanding contribution to the world of theatre, film and television and for the support and inspiration she gave to young actors".

"Maggie faced her illness with the strength, courage, dignity and even humour with which she lived her life," it said.

Margaret Tyzack was made a CBE in July 2010

Brian Blessed, who starred with Tyzack in I, Claudius, told the BBC: "She was one of the most natural and great actresses of our times and also one of the greatest actresses I've ever worked with.

"She completed a huge array of work over the years in TV, film and theatre and it's such a terrible loss. She should have been made a Dame 10 times over."

Michael Grandage directed her in The Chalk Garden three years ago.

"I was fortunate enough to work with Margaret Tyzack at the Donmar where, according to many critics, she gave one of the greatest performances of her career in The Chalk Garden," he told the BBC.

"She brought an extraordinary depth to the role as well as her impeccable comic timing. There was a lot of herself invested in Mrs St Maugham - a lack of sentimentality, a great pragmatism, incredible loyalty and a huge heart. We will all miss her."

Tyzack, who was awarded the CBE last year, was best-known for her classical stage roles and won numerous awards for her stage work including two Oliviers and a Tony.

The actress landed the role of Winifred, Soames's sister, in The Forsyte Saga in 1967.

The programme became so popular vicars complained it affected attendance at Sunday evening services.

Tyzack also played Sir Derek Jacobi's mother Antonia in Roman saga I, Claudius.

'An inspiration'

She won a Tony award in 1991 for her role opposite Dame Maggie Smith in Lettice and Lovage and was seen at the National Theatre in 2009 alongside Dame Helen Mirren in Phedre.

Tyzak appeared briefly in EastEnders as Janine's grandmother

In April, it was announced that Tyzack was to join EastEnders to play Lydia Simmonds, the maternal grandmother of Albert Square regular Janine Butcher.

Bryan Kirkwood, executive producer of EastEnders, said: "I'm so sad to hear the tragic news about Margaret.

"Even though we only worked together for a brief time, Margaret made a great impact with EastEnders. She was a fabulous actress and an inspiration to us all and she will be sorely missed.

Our thoughts are with her family."

Film roles

Tyzack won an Olivier award for best actress for her performance as Martha in the National Theatre's revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1981.

In 2008, she picked up another Olivier for her role as the eccentric Mrs St Maugham in Grandage's revival of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse in London with Penelope Wilton.

After her Olivier win, she spoke out about the lack of roles for older women in theatre and television.

She also appeared in several films including Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange and Woody Allen's Match Point.

Her other TV credits include Midsomer Murders, Rosemary and Thyme, Doc Martin and Quatermass.

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Columbo's Peter Falk dies at 83

24 June 2011 Last updated at 21:14 GMT Peter Falk won four Emmys for his cigar-chomping role as scruffy-haired, mac-wearing Columbo Peter Falk, the American actor most famous for his role as scruffy TV detective Columbo, has died aged 83.

The actor died peacefully at home in Beverly Hills on Thursday night, his family said in a statement.

He had been suffering from dementia for a number of years.

Peter Falk won four Emmys for his cigar-chomping role as the deceptively bumbling Columbo, and was nominated for Oscars in 1960 and 1961 for Murder Inc and Pocketful of Miracles.

In the 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, he played a kindly old man regaling his sick grandson with a fairytale combination of swordplay, giants, a beautiful princess and fearsome rodents of unusual size.

But for most fans, even his best-supporting actor nominations were eclipsed by his incarnation as the sleuth in the shabby mac with no known first name and the killer catch-phrase: "One more thing..."

'Like a flood victim'

Columbo first appeared on American TV screens in 1968, and NBC commissioned a series in which the detective appeared every third week from 1971 until it was cancelled in 1977.

The part of its policeman hero had originally been written for Bing Crosby, but Falk made the part his own and continued to make special episodes well into his 70s.

He reportedly turned down an offer to convert it into a weekly series, citing the heavy workload.

The actor bought Columbo's trademark raincoat himself, only for it to be replaced after it became too tattered through its near constant use in the series.

He told one interviewer his shabby detective looked "like a flood victim".

"You feel sorry for him. He appears to be seeing nothing, but he's seeing everything. Underneath his dishevelment, a good mind is at work."

Peter Michael Falk was born in 1927 in New York City, where his parents ran a clothes shop.

He had an eye removed at the age of three due to cancer. He said he learned to live with the ailment after it became "the joke of the neighbourhood".

"If the umpire ruled me out on a bad call, I'd take the fake eye out and hand it to him," Falk told the Associated Press in a 1963 interview.

As an aspiring actor, he was reportedly warned by one agent the false eye would preclude him from working in television. In fact, it became another endearing trait of his most famous character.

Peter Falk had been under 24-hour care for several years.

The actor is survived by his wife of three decades, Shera, and daughters from a previous marriage Catherine and Jackie.

In 2009, Catherine Falk applied to be put in charge of his estate, saying he was suffering from Alzheimer's and that she had been blocked from seeing him for six months.

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Blue Peter says goodbye to London

28 June 2011 Last updated at 16:49 GMT David Sillito talks to the editor of Blue Peter, Tim Levell, about why Television Centre is so iconic

Children's programme Blue Peter has made its final broadcast from the BBC's Television Centre in London before moving to Salford.

As part of the farewell, the team broke the world record for the most people to hula-hoop simultaneously.

After its summer break, Blue Peter will be broadcast from new studios as part of the relocation of several BBC departments.

The Blue Peter garden will be sited on a studio roof at the BBC's new complex.

Former presenters Diane-Louise Jordan and Anthea Turner returned for the final London show to participate in the world record hula-hooping challenge.

A Guiness World Records official confirmed a new record had been set after 426 people managed to simultaneously dance with hula hoops for two minutes - beating the previous record of 326.

Presenter Helen Skelton explained to viewers the show was "leaving home" from its London studios, adding it meant "we have to say goodbye to some very dear friends".

"The crew here are some of the nicest and best in the business and they've made some really magical moments in TV centre," she said.

'End of an era'

As well as showing a montage of clips of shows from years gone by filmed at Television Centre, the team also said goodbye to presenter Andy Akinwolere who is leaving after five years fronting the programme.

Memorable moments from the Blue Peter studio and garden

He was presented with a gold Blue Peter badge - the show's highest honour.

"I don't know what to say - it's been full of some amazing experiences," he said.

Earlier this month, viewers saw him set a new world record for open water swimming as he conquered his fear of the water in the Pacific Ocean.

Blue Peter is the longest-running children's programme in the world, after first being broadcast in October 1958. BBC Television Centre opened in Shepherd's Bush, west London, two years later.

"Blue Peter has had some amazing times at Television Centre and we were determined to mark the end of an era with a really special programme," said Blue Peter editor Tim Levell.

"It was amazing to gather so many people together and to add another world record to the Blue Peter portfolio."

As part of relocation plans, children's programmes are moving to the BBC's new Salford development, along with BBC Sport, TV's Breakfast programme and Radio 5 live.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

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Beyonce debut closes Glastonbury

26 June 2011 Last updated at 23:57 GMT Beyonce performs Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

US singer Beyonce made her debut at Glastonbury, bringing the three-day festival to a close.

She headlined the main Pyramid Stage, making her one of a handful of women to do so over the past 40 years.

Beyonce played all her biggest hits and a medley of Destiny's Child songs and got a great reception from the crowd.

The 29-year-old opened her set with Crazy In Love and afterwards told the audience: "I want you all to know right now you're witnessing my dream."

"I always wanted to be a rock star and tonight we are all rock stars," she added.

But there was no appearance on stage from her husband Jay-Z, who headlined Glastonbury in 2008.

The couple were spotted watching Coldplay perform on Saturday and there were rumours Jay-Z may join her on stage.

It is believed Beyonce has spent the last three weeks in the UK, at a rehearsal studio in London. She is supported on stage by backing singers The Mamas.

Beyonce told the crowd she would never forget the night

Beyonce arrived on stage to a burst of fireworks and her first words to the crowd were: "Glastonbury, are you ready?"

Her 90-minute set included all her signature songs, including Single Ladies, Independent Women, Halo and If I Was A Boy.

But she also paid homage to several other artists, with her own versions of Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know, the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams and Kings of Leon's Sex On Fire.

She was joined on stage by Bristolian artist Tricky for Baby Boy.

Many fans gave rave reviews of Beyonce's performance.

"The best performance she has ever done in her life, she is my idol," Lucy Horton from Bath told the BBC.

Pete Andrew, from Devon, watched the last 20 minutes of the gig having watched US rock band Queens of the Stone Age on another stage.

"If it didn't clash with anything then we would have turned up to see it earlier," he said.

Beyonce was something of a controversial headline choice for some fans who think it's further indication that Glastonbury is becoming more mainstream.

But Mr Andrew countered: "If it's what people want to hear, then that's what should be on."

Jay Z's announcement as a headliner at a predominantly rock music festival two years ago, sparked a debate over rap music's place at Glastonbury - spearheaded by Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher.

Suzanne Vega, who was the first woman to headline at Glastonbury in 1989, headlined on the acoustic stage at the same time as Beyonce.

Elsewhere on the site, artists like Plan B, Paul Simon and Brit winner Laura Marling played to crowd basking in some hot sunshine.

After a wet start to the weekend, it's estimated temperatures reached up to 25C on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Christopher Shale, chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association and a friend of David Cameron, was found dead at the festival on Worthy Farm, Somerset.

The 56-year-old was found in a portable toilet in one of the inter-stage hospitality areas.

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Going loco

28 June 2011 Last updated at 07:09 GMT By Tim Masters Entertainment and arts correspondent, BBC News An 1870 steam train steals the show at The Railway Children.

A theatre production of The Railway Children returns to Waterloo Station this month - with a genuine Victorian steam train in a starring role. But just how do you get a fully-operational locomotive centre stage?

Like a veteran actor, Stirling Single No.1 - all 66 tonnes of it - relaxes in the wings before making its big entrance in a cloud of steam.

The train is the scene-stealing star of The Railway Children, which is back at Waterloo's former Eurostar terminal after an extended run in 2010.

Continue reading the main story

There's something very human about a steam train and the noises it makes.”

End Quote Matthew Gale Producer, The Railway Children "It's the only real thing in the show, so it had to be authentic," says producer Matthew Gale, as we take a seat in a luxurious carriage behind the locomotive.

The Olivier-award-winning production sees comedian and broadcaster Marcus Brigstocke in the role as Station Master Perks.

The old Eurostar platforms have been converted into a 1,000-seat venue with the audience seated on either side of the railway tracks.

"The theatre was designed for the show. It's quite an extraordinary space," says Gale. "When the audience walk into it you see them go quiet."

The steam train only appears at key moments, and is shunted into the heart of the action by a diesel engine that remains out of sight.

The green and black Stirling Single No.1 locomotive made its stage debut in the York Theatre Royal and National Railway Museum production of The Railway Children in York in 2008.

The engine was built in 1870 by the same workshop that produced Flying Scotsman.

'Childhood memories'

Marcus Brigstocke plays Station Master Perks in the Waterloo production

For its return to the London stage it was carried by lorry from York to Southall where it was put on the tracks and shunted to Waterloo.

"There's something very human about a steam train and the noises it makes," says Gale.

"I'm not a train buff, but there is an emotional connection to trains, and in particular to steam trains. It's part of our heritage, and part of our childhood memories."

He adds: "Marcus Brigstocke as Mr Perks jokes about being upstaged, but in reality nothing overwhelms the story - which is told by the human actors."

E Nesbit's story is known to many through the classic 1970 film version, starring Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbens. An 1871 saloon coach that featured in the film also appears in the stage show.

The success of the UK show has led to an identical production in Canada. The Waterloo theatre space has been recreated in a giant tent next to Toronto's CN tower. Another British steam engine was shipped over for the production.

As any regular rail traveller will know, trains don't always stick to the timetable. How reliable has the Stirling Single No.1 been on stage?

Gale touches the highly-polished teak of the Victorian saloon. "Obviously, the fear has been that the train won't run on time, but it's been fine.

"There are a lot of people involved maintaining the train - there are daily safety checks and practice runs. Trains built in the 1870s were pretty reliable."

He adds that there are seven different safety levels to ensure the train can never run out of control in the auditorium.

But does the noisy 21st century world of Waterloo Station ever intrude on the play?

"There are times when you can hear a train rolling by," says Gale. "We have a big soundscape in the show, but being in a real station adds to the atmosphere."

The Railway Children is showing at Waterloo Station until January 2012

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Chris Brown wins four BET awards

R&B star Chris Brown has won four BET awards at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

The 22-year-old, who released his fourth album in March, picked up prizes including the viewers' choice award, male R&B artist and video of the year.

He shared the best collaboration prize with Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne.

The Black Entertainment Television (BET) awards recognise the achievements of African Americans and other minorities and have been held every year since 2001.

Chris Brown nearly didn't get his viewers' choice award after it was mistakenly handed out to Rihanna by a fan with Canadian rapper Drake accepting it on her behalf.

Organisers blamed the mistake on a technical glitch on its new tablet devices, which were used instead of the show's traditional winners' envelopes.

In pictures: Black Entertainment TV awards 2011

'Every blessing'

After picking up his award Chris Brown said: "I know it's been a long road, so I just appreciate every blessing that's been in front of me."

The singer performed an emotional tribute to Michael Jackson at last year's event.

Drake mistakenly accepted the viewers' choice award for Rihanna

In 2009, Chris Brown was taken to court after assaulting then girlfriend Rihanna in Los Angeles.

He was sentenced to five years probation and 180 days community work after pleading guilty to assaulting her the night before the 2009 Grammy awards.

Elsewhere Tinie Tempah picked up the international act prize with Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West winning female R&B artist, female hip hop artist and male hip hop artist.

Other awards handed out at LA's Shrine Auditorium went to Wiz Khalifa (new artist) and Diddy Dirty Money (group) with Jaden and Willow Smith tying for the young stars award.

British actor Idris Elba, from The Wire and Luther, picked up the acting prize.

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Suu Kyi actress barred from Burma

28 June 2011 Last updated at 05:57 GMT By Vaudine England BBC News, Bangkok Michelle Yeoh stars as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a new film, The Lady The actress who plays the part of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a forthcoming film has been barred from entering Burma.

Michelle Yeoh, a former Bond girl, tried to enter the country on 22 June but was deported on the same day.

An official told reporters that Michelle Yeoh was now blacklisted and would not be able to enter Burma.

She has visited Burma before - in December, she met the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

"She did not have the chance to enter Myanmar (Burma) again. She was deported straight away on the first flight after arriving at Yangon (Rangoon) International Airport," a Burmese official said.

Ms Yeoh has previously travelled to Burma with Aung San Suu Kyi's son, Kim Aris, who was allowed into the country earlier this month to mark his mother's 66th birthday.

'The Lady'

Ms Yeoh portrays Aung San Suu Kyi's life in a forthcoming film, The Lady.

Directed by Luc Besson it will be released later this year.

Michelle Yeoh, a 48-year old Malaysian actress, played a Chinese spy alongside Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies.

She also starred in Ang Lee's martial arts movie, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Aung San Suu Kyi recently gave the BBC's annual Reith Lectures in which she explored what freedom means, and described the meaning that Buddhism has given to her lonely political struggle.

In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the Burmese election by a landslide.

She then spent 15 of the next 20 years under house arrest, and was finally released last November, a week after military-controlled elections marked what the government says is a return to civilian rule.

Quite what is in the movie of her life remains a mystery - but blacklisting the actress portraying it seems clumsy - and an unlikely way to dim interest in its screening.

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Ai Weiwei is ordered to pay $1.9m

28 June 2011 Last updated at 15:31 GMT Ai Weiwei is prohibited from speaking publicly, but his family deny he dodged taxes China's authorities are demanding that artist Ai Weiwei pay more than 12m yuan ($1.9m, ?1.2m) in unpaid taxes and fines, one of his friends says.

Mr Ai is one of China's leading artists, and the most prominent figure caught up in a recent crackdown on critics of the Communist Party.

He was released last week after being detained at a secret detention centre for 80 days.

His family has insisted he is being targeted for his political activism.

Beijing's Tax Bureau claims Ai Weiwei owes 4.85m yuan in unpaid taxes, and insists he must pay an additional fine of 7.3m.

Liu Xiaoyuan, a lawyer and close friend of the artist, says he saw the letter with the demand after it was delivered on Monday. Mr Ai must respond within three days, he added.

There was an international outcry when police seized Ai Weiwei and held him incommunicado.

The authorities released him last week, saying he had admitted tax evasion.

The terms of Ai Weiwei's bail prevent him from speaking out publicly, so it has been left to his family to deny that he evaded tax.

They say the tax demand covers the past 10 years, according to reports.

They want to know why the issues are being raised only now, and insist the company involved in the tax affair is not controlled by Mr Ai, but his wife.

Broader crackdown

His mother believes the artist is being persecuted, because the authorities want to silence him and stop his political activism.

In recent weeks more than 100 other prominent activists, human rights lawyers, and internet bloggers have been targeted in a crackdown launched by China's communist leaders.

Human rights groups say it is the most grave silencing of voices of dissent in China since the Tiananmen massacre more than 20 years ago.

The trigger for the crackdown appeared to be anonymous calls on the internet for Chinese people to stage a popular revolution for democracy, like those sweeping North Africa and the Middle East.

A number of others, detained at the same time as Ai Weiwei, have also been freed. They include Mr Ai's driver, accountant, assistant and a designer.

Last Sunday the human rights activist Hu Jia, imprisoned for three and a half years, was released too.

In the past Ai Weiwei has exhibited his work in London, New York and Berlin. He designed the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But he also became an outspoken critic on a number of national scandals, including the deaths of students in shoddily built schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the harm done to children by tainted infant formula.

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US envoy 'sealed Lady Gaga deal'

28 June 2011 Last updated at 16:47 GMT The New York native cited her Italian roots and her real name: Stefania Germanotta The US envoy in Rome helped secure pop star Lady Gaga's performance at a gay pride concert there, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.

Lady Gaga played this month for tens of thousands of fans at EuroPride, a festival calling for gay, lesbian and transgender rights on the continent.

The Italian-American pop star is known for her advocacy of gay causes.

US Ambassador to Italy David Thorne's letter to her was "instrumental" in bringing her to Rome, Mrs Clinton said.

"Organisers of the EuroPride event desperately wanted her to perform, and a letter to her from Ambassador Thorne was instrumental in sealing the deal," Mrs Clinton told a group of gay and lesbian state department employees on Monday.

At the concert on 11 June at the Circus Maximus in Rome, Lady Gaga wore a green wig and performed a few songs, then denounced intolerance and violence against gays and transgender people in Europe and the Middle East.

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Paxman reveals University Challenge rejection

28 June 2011 Last updated at 07:18 GMT Paxman was interviewed by Ann Widdecombe who also failed to get into her college team University Challenge host Jeremy Paxman tried to join his college team for the quiz show but was rejected for "failing to answer questions", he has revealed.

The Cambridge University graduate told the Radio Times he remembered "going along with a couple of friends" to a common room quiz to choose a team.

"I did have a go - I didn't get chosen", said Paxman, 61, who has presented the programme for 17 years.

He said rejection did not reflect upon general knowledge or mental ability.

"It is a very particular thing, playing a quiz," added Paxman, who succeeded Bamber Gascoigne as the host of University Challenge.

Former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who interviewed Paxman for the Radio Times, revealed she too had been rejected by her college team.

Paxman, who said that he slept during university lectures "half the time", added there would come a point when he would have to step down from his role of host because the BBC would say "let's get rid of this old person".

He said there was no argument that questions on the show had got more difficult, "because students know a lot more now".

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Madrid gets its own Walk of Fame

28 June 2011 Last updated at 12:30 GMT Javier Bardem was one of 25 Spanish personalities to receive a star Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem have been honoured on Madrid's version of the Hollywood Wall of Fame.

The husband and wife actors were among 25 Spanish cinema personalities to receive a plaque on the Street Of Stars (La Calle De Las Estrellas).

Actor Antonio Banderas and director Pedro Almodovar were also at the inauguration ceremony on Monday.

The Street of Stars was created to mark the Spanish Film Academy's 25th anniversary.

Director Alejandro Amenabar thanked the academy and Madrid's city council for installing the new attraction in Calle Martin de los Heros, the central Madrid street that is home to several cinemas.

"This is an area that brings me great memories, I signed my first autograph here," he added.

Like its Hollywood counterpart, the granite, marble and steel plaques feature a large star and the celebrity's name.

Sixteen actors and nine directors have been initially honoured, but the academy said it plans to add one or two plaques each year.

It is the second star for Cruz this year - in April, she received the 2,436th star in Hollywood, becoming the first Spanish actress to receive the honour.

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Film-makers seek to block pirate site

28 June 2011 Last updated at 01:31 GMT BT is being taken to court by the film industry in a bid to block access to a website which, it says, promotes piracy

Film-makers are going to court in a bid to block access to a site that links to pirated versions of popular movies.

In a UK legal first, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) has applied for an injunction that would force BT to cut off customers' access to Newzbin.

The MPA, the industry body for a number of movie studios, said it was targeting BT first as the largest internet service provider in the UK.

BT confirmed it would be in court later but did not make any further comment.

The MPA wants BT to block Newzbin with the same system that stops access to sites hosting child sex abuse images.

The members-only website aggregates a large amount of the illegally copied material found on Usenet discussion forums.

The MPA is the international arm of the Motion Picture Association of America - the industry body representing movie studios such as Warner, Sony, Fox, Disney and Paramount.

Continue reading the main story

Newzbin has no regard for UK law and it is unacceptable that it continues to infringe copyright on a massive and commercial scale when it has been ordered to stop by the High Court”

End Quote Chris Marcich MPA European president It brought its action against BT because, as well as being the largest ISP in the UK with more than 5.6 million customers, BT supplies the site-blocking system known as Cleanfeed to many other big UK ISPs.

Success in the courts may mean the blocking spreads to those other operators.

Massive scale

The MPA began its legal action against UK-operated Newzbin in 2010, which resulted in the High Court telling the site to remove material it hosted that infringed copyright.

Newzbin went into administration soon after but its assets, including web domains, were sold to new owners and a fresh version of the site has popped up operating out of the Seychelles.

"Newzbin has no regard for UK law and it is unacceptable that it continues to infringe copyright on a massive and commercial scale when it has been ordered to stop by the High Court," said Chris Marcich, European president of the MPA, in a statement.

"We have explored every route to get Newzbin to take down the infringing material and are left with no option but to challenge this in the courts."

Court-imposed blocks have been used widely throughout Europe but a success for the MPA would mark the first time the tactic has worked in the UK.

The UK's Digital Economy Act does require ISPs to help rights holders identify users who may have downloaded music, software and videos illegally. However, it stops short of giving rights holders legal powers to pursue alleged pirates.

In a statement BT would confirm only that it would be appearing in court on Tuesday "following an application for an injunction by members of the MPA".

The Internet Service Providers Association said it would not comment until the court had made its decision.

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BBC hands back Panorama RTS award

28 June 2011 Last updated at 10:52 GMT Primark said millions of people had been "deceived by Panorama" The BBC has handed back an RTS award won by Panorama documentary Primark - On The Rack after the BBC Trust ruled a scene may not have been genuine.

The corporation said on Monday "a serious error" was made and it would be "inappropriate" to keep the award.

The trust ruled on 16 June it was "more likely than not" that a scene showing boys working in a Bangalore clothing workshop was "not genuine".

But reporter Dan McDougall, who filmed the scene, called the ruling "unjust".

The documentary, shown on BBC One on 23 June 2008, won a current affairs prize at the prestigious Royal Television Society Awards in February 2009.

The contested undercover footage showed three boys "testing" Primark brown vest tops to make sure that sequins would not fall off.

The trust ordered an on-air apology which was broadcast before last week's edition of Panorama.

The apology was also published on the front page of the Panorama website.

Continue reading the main story

We acknowledge that a serious error was made and therefore it would be inappropriate to keep the RTS award”

End Quote BBC statement The BBC said on Monday that it had "apologised for including a short section of film which could not be authenticated in the programme".

"We acknowledge that a serious error was made and therefore it would be inappropriate to keep the RTS award."

Following the BBC Trust's ruling, Primark said millions of people had been "deceived by Panorama".

"Viewers who watched the programme, shoppers who were then fed the lie, sourcing experts who believed the lie, teachers and pupils who viewed the programme in lessons, have all been badly let down," a spokesman said.

But freelance journalist Dan McDougall said: "In the BBC Trust's own words, there is not 'one piece of irrefutable and conclusive evidence' to support the allegation that the sequence in the programme had been staged," he said.

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BBC unveils Reith Lecture archive

26 June 2011 Last updated at 09:01 GMT For over 60 years the Reith Lectures have been given by a distinguished group of international figures, including scientists, diplomats, artists and philosophers. The BBC has published 60 years' worth of audio archive and transcripts of the Reith Lectures.

First broadcast in 1948, the lectures were created to advance public understanding of significant issues of the day through high-profile speakers.

Past lecturers include the philosopher Bertrand Russell, "father of the atomic bomb" J Robert Oppenheimer and pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.

More than 240 Reith Lectures are also available to download as podcasts.

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Listened to the first Reith lecture by Bertrand Russell, forsooth. He went far too quickly and has a bad voice. However I wrote him a civil note”

End Quote Lord Reith The Reith Lectures were named in honour of Lord Reith, the BBC's first director general.

Lord Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service which would enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the nation, and the Reith Lectures were created as a "stimulus to thought and contribution to knowledge".

Writing on the Radio 4 blog, Andrew Caspari, the BBC's head of Speech Radio Interactive said: "The archive is a journey through the great names and thinkers of the last 60 years. It includes Bertrand Russell, Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Hoggart, A H Halsey and J K Galbraith.

"At Radio 4 it is always slightly daunting to commission people to follow in such footsteps, but in recent years the likes of Onora O'Neill and Daniel Barenboim have maintained the Reiths as one of the UK's most significant intellectual stages."

The inaugural lectures were given in 1948 by the philosopher and Nobel laureate, Bertrand Russell. His series, entitled Authority and the Individual, explored the relationship between individuality, community and state control in a progressive society.

However, Lord Reith was not impressed, writing in his diary: "Listened to the first Reith lecture by Bertrand Russell, forsooth. He went far too quickly and has a bad voice. However I wrote him a civil note."

Philosopher Bertrand Russell recording the first Reith Lecture in 1948

Earl Russell's lectures triggered a considerably more angry response from the Soviet Union, where they were interpreted as an attack on communism.

The BBC archive documents a Radio Moscow broadcast which said it was "a pitiful world that Russell praised, where packs of wolves would kill for a piece of flesh" - a result of "the philosophy of capitalism in decay".

During the Cold War era, the Reith Lectures were frequently a source of political antagony. One of the most controversial series was delivered in 1957 by the former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, George Kennan.

Alarmed by the growing nuclear arms race, Kennan supported negotiation with Russia and suggested American, French and British troops should be withdrawn from Germany.

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev cited the lectures when he told reporters that Russia would withdraw from East Germany, if Nato troops did the same in the West.

Back in Washington DC, Kennan's former Democratic colleagues denounced him as "out of touch".

Ahead of their time

Throughout eight decades, the lectures have regularly highlighted issues long before they were widely discussed, many of which still resonate today.

In 1952, the historian Arnold Toynbee examined the impact of westernisation in Muslim countries; and the 1962 Reith Lecturer, the anthropologist George Carstairs, outraged the British press when he suggested "pre-marital sexual exploration" might be healthy for relationships.

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The Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi's 2011 Reith Lectures will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service on Tuesday, 28 June and Tuesday, 5 July.

The 1969 lectures, given by the ecologist Frank Fraser Darling, are considered a landmark in the debate surrounding the protection of the environment as he warned of the onset of global warming.

However, the lectures have been criticised for largely being an all-white, all-male affair. The first female Reith Lecturer was Dame Margery Perham in 1961. A writer and lecturer on African affairs, she examined the impact of colonialism.

Robert Gardiner of the UN Economic Commission for Africa was the first non-white lecturer. Speaking in 1965, his broadcasts discussed how how economic inequality affects race relations.

The youngest lecturer is the neurobiologist, Colin Blakemore, who was just thirty years old when asked to deliver the lectures in 1976. His series, Mechanics of the Mind, explored the human brain and consciousness.

The archive has been made available on the Radio 4 website, and via two podcasts Reith Lectures Archive 1948 - 1975 and Reith Lectures 1976 - 2010. Lecture transcripts are also available.

While compiling the archive, Radio 4 discovered several of the older lectures were missing, and is appealing to the public to contact the Reith Lectures team if they have copies of any of the missing recordings.

The 2011 Reith Lectures, entititled Securing Freedom, will be delivered by the Burmese pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi and former MI5 director general Eliza Manningham-Buller.

Aung San Suu Kyi's lectures will address the themes of liberty and dissent, and will be broadcast on Tuesday, 28 June at 0900 BST on BBC Radio 4 and at 1100 GMT on the BBC World Service.

Baroness Manningham-Buller's lectures will be broadcast in September to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and will reflect on the threats to freedom and the means of countering them in the post-9/11 world.

The Reith Lectures archive is the latest development in Radio 4's plan to make more of its archive available to the public. The recent publication of the Desert Island Discs archive has garnered more than three million downloads since its launch two months ago.

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Jackson Thriller jacket makes $1.8m

27 June 2011 Last updated at 04:13 GMT Michael Jackson wore the jacket in the 1983 Thriller video

A leather jacket worn by US singer Michael Jackson in his renowned Thriller video has sold at auction in California for $1.8m (?1.1m).

Jackson wore the jacket in the 1983 video, in a scene with a troupe of zombies who rise from their graves and break into a dance routine.

It was bought by a Texas commodities trader who said he planned to use it to raise money for children's charities.

The sale was organised by Julien's Auction in Beverly Hills.

Some of the proceeds will go to an animal preserve in California where Michael Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Thriller and Sabu, are living.

Other items sold at the auction include one of the singer's wigs and a glove he wore to the American Music Awards in 1984.

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Opera outreach

28 June 2011 Last updated at 07:11 GMT By Vincent Dowd Arts Reporter, BBC World Service In Two Boys the internet 'functions in the story as a masquerade might in an old opera', says its composer Opera's trying hard to be cool - and to appeal to audiences who traditionally had little time for the form. It's why many of the highest-profile new works have been based on stories from the news headlines. This week brings another example with Two Boys at the English National Opera (ENO).

Two Boys composer Nico Muhly first became aware of the bizarre real-life case behind his opera when he was reading the BBC News website.

In Manchester in 2003 a teenage boy posed online as a woman and in a series of postings persuaded an older boy to try to kill him. The younger boy was stabbed but survived.

But Muhly says he and librettist Craig Lucas only ever saw the story as a starting point. "It's not docu-opera. But the operatic potential was obvious.

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There've been times when you felt the opera was created to tick the box of social relevance rather than out of any urgent artistic need to exist”

End Quote Ivan Hewett Music critic "The history of opera is full of disguise - people pretending to be someone else, for political or sexual reasons. Sometimes it's for fun and sometimes it's out of malice. This story had to be an opera - it couldn't work as a play."

Though Two Boys is written and directed by Americans, Muhly insists they never considered shifting the locale to the US.

The piece is having seven performances in London at ENO and it's expected to play at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

When it's suggested his opera is about the power of the internet he protests. "It's a mechanism to tell a story about pretence. The internet functions in the story as a masquerade might in an old opera.

Our story's not about people wearing masks or women disguised in trousers. But it's a modern version of that because most people have been deceived in some way online."

Two Boys isn't the ENO's first attempt to create a work of appeal to people who aren't regular opera-goers, especially to younger ticket-buyers.

In 2006 it staged Gaddafi - A Living Myth with a score by Asian Dub Foundation.

Anna Nicole at the ROH was a recent successful example of tackling popular culture in opera

Music critic Ivan Hewett says that show was a total misfire. "Dramatically and musically Gaddafi was a lame piece - not really a professional opera at all.

"There has been a tendency for opera houses to commission new works about the real world. But there've been times when you felt the opera was created to tick the box of social relevance rather than out of any urgent artistic need to exist."

But Hewett thinks Anna Nicole, staged at the Royal Opera House in February, proves it is possible to chase a young and hip demographic without abandoning artistic credibility.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera told the story of the life and death of the US model and actress Anna Nicole Smith.

"Turnage took on the theme of the cult of celebrity and how it can destroy people. The piece had its detractors but I'd far rather see a lively attempt to seize on something current than a drab piece based on mythology."

Ivan Hewett believes that because audiences are increasingly unfamiliar with stories from mythology and ancient history is one reason why we're getting more stories from today's headlines.

But the story doesn't have to be contemporary if the project has the right names attached.

Pop star Damon Albarn has turned his talents to opera with Dr Dee

Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna, about a singer modelled on Maria Callas, found appreciative audiences at the Manchester International Festival in 2009. This year the same festival has co-commissioned Damon Albarn's historical opera Dr Dee with ENO.

So perhaps tempting in younger opera-goers has more to do with employing new and interesting composers, writing in a new way, than with the work's setting and storyline.

Muhly, about to turn 30, says he bridles when people ask if he composed Two Boys for people of his own age. "I don't know what the alternative would be - writing something that only appeals to very old people?

"A good work will appeal to all audiences. What gets people in is a great production of a great piece of music."

Two Boys is at the English National Opera in London until 8 July

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Ayckbourn's archive to go online

27 June 2011 Last updated at 09:59 GMT Sir Alan Ayckbourn said he hoped young writers would learn from the collection Thousands of items from playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn's archive will be made available to the public online after being bought by the University of York.

They include manuscripts giving an insight into the creative process of Sir Alan, who wrote Bedroom Farce, The Norman Conquests and Woman in Mind.

Sir Alan said he hoped the material would provide "a fertile ground for ideas and inspire people to write".

It was bought for ?240,000 by the university's Borthwick Institute.

The collection spans Sir Alan's 50-year career and includes correspondence with theatre luminaries including Sir Peter Hall, Sir Trevor Nunn, Stephen Sondheim and Harold Pinter.

The playwright said it traced his working methods from the days when he would use handwritten notes to dictate a script to his wife Heather.

He said: "I always like to go to bed with a tidy script and, in the old days, I would trawl back through several pages of typing and blot things out with Tipp-Ex or cover my scripts with arrows.

"I realised that what I was learning from others and from experience was valuable and I wanted to chronicle it. I hope the archive is an extension of this."

'Supremely inventive'

The collection also includes notes on plots, diagrams of relationships between characters, sketches of stage settings and characters' movements.

The archive will be made available online and at the institute as well as being studied by undergraduates and postgraduates at the university.

Professor Mike Cordner, drama professor at York University, described Sir Alan as a "uniquely prolific, radically innovative, and supremely inventive dramatist".

"His work holds a special resonance for Yorkshire and it is entirely appropriate that the archive remains in the county where much of the work was produced," he said.

Funds came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Samuel Storey Charitable Trust, the Museums and Libraries Archive and the Friends of the National Libraries.

Sir Alan was artistic director at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough for 27 years until 2009. His 75th play, Neighbourhood Watch, will be premiered at the theatre in September.

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Van Gogh Museum closing for refit

27 June 2011 Last updated at 11:00 GMT Around 1.5 million people visit the Van Gogh Museum each year Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is to close for six months for renovations next year, its director has announced.

Axel Ruger said the renovation was necessary "to ensure the condition of the building and the safety of the visitors in the long run".

He added around 75 of the artist's masterpieces and a number of works on paper will move to the nearby Hermitage Amsterdam during the repairs.

The museum will be closed from October 2012 until March 2013.

Mr Ruger said the museum "simply cannot disappoint" the 1.5 million people who visit the venue annually and were working hard to keep the collection available to the public elsewhere.

"Art lovers will be able to see a splendid survey of 19th century art by Van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Hermitage Amsterdam.

"This represents a rare opportunity, one not likely to happen again any time soon," he added.

The refurbishment, necessary due to more robust government security requirements, were partly completed in 2010.

The second phase of the work must be finished by mid-2014. However, the museum plans for it to be completed well in advance as 2013 marks the museum's 40th jubilee and van Gogh's 160th birthday.

It is the latest major Dutch museum to close for reconstruction.

The nearby Rijksmuseum and Stedelijkmuseum both have been undergoing major renovations for the past few years, but have kept the best parts of their collections on display at other locations.

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JK Rowling to explore French roots

27 June 2011 Last updated at 12:46 GMT In 2009, Rowling was made a knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian award JK Rowling will explore her French roots in the new series of BBC ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are?

The author will visit Edinburgh and London followed by French battlefields and the back streets of Paris.

EastEnder June Brown, who will explore her family's migration from Africa, and her former Albert Square co-star Larry Lamb will also be subjects.

Richard Madeley, tracing his roots back to the founding fathers of the US and Canada, will also appear.

Bee Gee Robin Gibb finds out about an ancestor's role in the 19th Century war with Afghanistan, former athlete Sebastian Coe visits Jamaica and the US.

Comedian Alan Carr is set to discover that his maternal great-grandfather changed his name in mysterious circumstances.

Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman learns of the poverty endured by his ancestors and artist Tracey Emin finds a family tree full of orthodox characters.

Silent Witness star Emilia Fox, meanwhile, discovers that treading the boards is in her blood.

The series is due to air in August.

Pottermore criticism

Meanwhile, JK Rowling has responded to retailers' frustrations over being unable to sell e-books of the Harry Potter series.

The author announced last week the seven books would be released in the format for the first time from October, but they are only available through her Pottermore website.

Retailers have criticised the move, with Waterstone's saying that physical bookshops were "effectively banned" from selling the digital editions.

A Pottermore spokesman said: "The decision to make e-books exclusive to the site was to ensure ease of availability across all reading devices and to the widest possible audience.

"Pottermore is designed to encourage the reading and re-reading of the Harry Potter books in all formats and editions, both print and digital, to both existing and new generations of readers.

"We think this will have a positive effect on those selling physical books as well as on sales of digital ones."

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Pythons reunite for Chapman film

28 June 2011 Last updated at 07:54 GMT The Monty Python team released films including The Meaning of Life and Holy Grail Monty Python members have reunited to voice a 3D animated film based on the memoirs of the late Graham Chapman.

A Liar's Autobiography will feature recordings that Chapman, who died in 1989 aged 48, made of his 1980 book.

John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones have all signed up while Eric Idle is not involved. The film is due out in spring next year.

Jones joked he had "no idea" until recently that Chapman was dead and "thought he was just being lazy".

"However, I am now delighted to find myself working with him again on this exciting project," he added.

Co-director Jeff Simpson said producers had worked closely with the Chapman estate and the Pythons to "get this exactly right". Chapman died after battling cancer.

He said the comic would be pleased "his work is being reimagined in glorious 3D - he always loved wearing silly glasses".

Cult TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus was first broadcast in the UK in 1969.

The team also brought films including Holy Grail and Life of Brian to the big screen.

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