Comedian tells live Q&A in Manchester that comeback is ‘like getting in a hot bath’ Returning to the stage is like “getting in a hot bath”, Peter Kay said at a special charity gig.The Bolton-born comic received a standing ovation as he appeared on…
We put our shirt on French holiday roulette and the wheel stopped on… amber | Rachel Cooke
It’s been a white-knuckle ride, but we’re finally off to France subject to our Covid ‘declaration of honour’Like many people, I’ve spent a lot of this year playing the great new game of holiday roulette, a wild ride that began for me in January, when a…
Watercolour glimpses of a Greek summer – in pictures
When the British painter Alison Jones met her Ithacan husband, it felt like destiny. “I am obsessed with Greece, heroes and enchantresses, spells and metamorphoses,” she says. Her destiny has the added benefit of an annual holiday on Ithaca, at her hus…
The week in audio: Speak Up; Woman’s Hour; The Spark; This Union: The Ghost Kingdoms of England
Mary Ann Sieghart led a succession of programmes showing just why men need to wise up, talk less and listen a lot moreSpeak Up (Radio 4) | BBC SoundsWoman’s Hour (Radio 4) | BBC SoundsThe Spark (Radio 4) | BBC SoundsThis Union: The Ghost Kingdoms of En…
Samara Joy: Samara Joy review – classic American song in safe young hands
(Whirlwind)The young New Yorker’s beautifully poised delivery is backed by a trio led by the virtuosic guitar of Pasquale GrassoSamara Joy is 21, and two years ago she won the Sarah Vaughan international jazz vocal competition. She grew up in a gospel-…
‘Bloody difficult women’: Brexit play hits the London stage
Theresa May and pro-EU campaigner Gina Miller are key characters in a new drama about Britain’s battle over EuropeThey were both called “bloody difficult women”. Yet a play opening in London in the new year will portray Theresa May and the anti-Brexit …
Sea, sand and subversive art: can Bournemouth be reborn as a culture hub?
As the vast Giant gallery opens in a former department store, the English seaside town hopes to rival Margate, Hastings …and even Santa MonicaWant culture that sails close to the wind? Well, Bournemouth might not have been the obvious place to head for…
On my radar: Adrian Edmondson’s cultural highlights
The comedian on rediscovering Cat Stevens, an eye-opening podcast on Bangladesh and binge-watching Derry GirlsBorn in Bradford in 1957, the actor and comedian Adrian Edmondson studied drama at the University of Manchester, where he met Rik Mayall. Toge…
Stillwater review – thoughtful Matt Damon vehicle hiding inside an action thriller
Damon plays a man trying to extricate his daughter from the French penal system, with help from Call My Agent!’s Camille CottinConstruction worker Bill (Matt Damon) travels from Oklahoma to Marseille to visit his twentysomething daughter Allison (Abiga…
Britney Spears’ father says ‘no grounds whatsoever’ for conservatorship removal
Jamie Spears says in court filing he has faithfully served as conservator of daughter’s estate Britney Spears’ father said in a court filing Friday that there are “no grounds whatsoever” for removing him from the conservatorship that controls her money…