Entertainment

Old certainties die and new ones rise as sure as the sun. Stories with their truths embellished are told to maintain a sense of control, even as the sheep farming family in Simon Longman’s sparse piece realises that their fate might be out of their hands. As two sisters, Becky and Anna, eek out a living hustling ewes on hills that seem far away at the top of all England, a stranger, Guy, as gentle as the sisters are rough...

January is typically a bit of a dead zone for releases - not so in 2018. Who could have seen this lot coming? First off, The Breeders are back and sounding just wonderful with that inimitable Kim Deal drawl. Jay Som, who released probably our favourite album of 2017 in Everybody Works, has been back to the bedroom to work on some new tunes, which we'll be keeping an eagle-eye out for. And Justin Timberlake released an absolute banger -...

At the height of the Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, more than 300,000 prospectors flocked to California to seek their fortune. The overwhelming majority returned home broken and penniless. The innovative few, on the other hand, lined their pockets and became some of the wealthiest people on the planet. They recognised consumer needs and set out to meet that demand. Samuel Brannan was one such individual. Instead of seeking gold himself, he opened a string of stores and filled them...

A British photographer spent two weeks befriending huge ‘Dalmatian Pelicans’ to get these incredible close-up pictures of the pre-historic looking birds. Sean Weekly, 28, snapped the “charismatic” troupe of the largest members of the pelican family in a pristine lake surrounded by the stunning snow-capped mountains. Mr Weekly, from Sittingbourne, Kent, braved freezing temperatures on a boat every morning to take these beautiful shots of the birds soaring above Lake Kerkini in Northern Greece. He would take close-up shots of...

The legendary artist known as Banksy is believed to have been caught on video just hours after his latest graffiti creation appeared on the side of a bridge. Footage has emerged of what looks to be the elusive artist acting shifty while sporting a baseball cap and sunglasses to shield his identity. Banksy took responsibility for a piece of art slapped to the side of the disused Scott Street Bridge in Hull, East Yorks., on Friday (Jan 26). But it...

A 1,300-year-old gold cross which was found buried with the body of an aristocratic Anglo-Saxon teenager is to go on display for the first time. The Trumpington Cross, made of gold and garnet, was discovered on the skeleton of a female between the ages of 14 and 18 who was laid to rest in an extremely rare ‘bed burial’ ceremony. Only a handful of Anglo-Saxon bed burials - in which the deceased person is buried in the ground, lying on...

There was something about the phrase “thoughtless obsolescence” that had got me thinking ahead of To Kill A King’s final tour date at Islington Assembly Hall. The term was used by the band in our pre-gig chat to describe the “lost and unsatisfied” feelings that seem to have become the catchphrase for our current political and sociological climate. It joins a school of ‘obsoletist’ lines like “If half the world's gone mad the other half just don't care” and, my...

Southbank Centre has announced the first names from the Spring contemporary music season, with an array of shows spanning soul, jazz, electronica, folk, flamenco, folk and indie and featuring performances from the very best emerging artists through to revered veterans. In April 2018, to celebrate the reopening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room after a two year refurbishment, Southbank Centre presents events from the UK’s finest contemporary composers and performers. On 13 and 14 April, the emerging voices...