Entertainment

There is something dark and malicious within the concept of duty for at its root, duty is a well-told lie. Lies themselves are always betrayals for in the liar’s mind you the receiver of a lie are either too ignorant, too weak or too untrustworthy to be trusted with the truth. And then, when the lie is uncovered, the reaction can run the gamut from momentary unease forgiven in good grace through to a permanent deep break ending in violence....

Sir Winston Churchill's final piece of artwork yesterday (Tues) smashed its auction estimate by selling for a staggering £357,000. The wartime leader painted 'The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell' in 1962 - three years before his death. He was in his late eighties and his abstract painting depicts the beloved goldfish pool in the garden of the family home at Chartwell, Kent. Churchill gave the painting, described as "a unique and moving insight into his final years", to bodyguard Sergeant Edmund...

A new report published today has revealed shocking gender disparities in the art world in terms of valuations and earnings. The research reveals that in the high-end art world, just one of the top 100 lots sold at auction in 2015 was by a woman, and none of the top ten richest living artists are women. By contrast, women on Artfinder sell nearly 40 per cent more art, sell their work 16 per cent faster and for every £1 million...

“Don’t worry; I can pour it myself, thanks.” Billy Bragg whispers politely to the waitress attempting to top up his glass. We are in a hotel in Newcastle about to talk about his new album Bridges Not Walls, politics, patriotism, socialism, Brexit, his stint in the army, and everything in between. On growing up in Barking Bragg was brought up by his parents in Barking, in the same house his dad grew up in. Together with his brother, he had...

DJ Format and Abdominal are heading to our shores again! After another successful tour earlier this year, the infamous hip hop duo are heading out once again to showcase their very first full-length album together, Still Hungry. Still Hungry was released in May this year and saw the guys played live on BBC 6 Music with Lauren Laverne as well as London's very own Soho Radio. The first single from the album, 'Behind the Scenes' was play listed on 6Music...

14.11.17 The Dome, Tufnell Park, London Detroit has never sounded so gloomy. Post-punkers Protomartyr treated London to two back-to-back shows last week in support of the quartets' latest LP Relatives In Descent. Live, it's really frontman Joe Casey's show. Pacing back and forth, a beer in hand with spares in each pocket, his deadpan sermonising on-record escalates into straight-backed, blank,eyed, rapturous anger. It's easy to read this twist of emotions on his face in the photoset below.   Photos: Grant Bailey

Since 2013 London’s Exhibition Collective has been nurturing East London’s artistic community with regular workshops and annual themed shows yet 2017 is set to be its most accomplished year yet. Established by a small group of creative friends living in Stoke Newington, the EXC has since grown into a fourteen strong group of emerging artists working in a variety of forms including collage, pen and ink, photography, paint, pottery and needlework. The group will open their four-day exhibit on the...

After stops in London and other global cities for viewings, a painting believed to be by Leonardo da Vinci has sold at auction in New York for a record $450 million. The painting, Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World), is among fewer than 20 by the Renaissance painter who lived over 500 years ago that are still in existence and the only one that was privately owned. All others are in museums and art galleries around the globe. "On a...

The dance hall where The Beatles first performed their debut single is going to auction - with a guide price of just £175,000. An audience of teenage girls screamed as John, Paul, George and Ringo belted out ‘Love Me Do’ in 1962 at the Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead, Merseyside. The venue was built as a cinema in 1916, but its glory days were the 1960s when it was at the centre of the Liverpool and Merseyside music scene. The dance...