Entertainment

A sitar owned and played by George Harrison has sold for £46,581 ($62,500) at an auction in the United States. The Indian string instrument, purchased from a shop in London’s Oxford Street in 1965, was used in the recording of Beatles song Norwegian Wood in 1965. It launched ‘The Great Sitar Explosion’ in rock n roll and marked the beginning of Harrison’s lifelong relationship with Indian music, its culture and Hinduism. Indian musicians were used in two later Harrison songs...

The re-launched Star Trek: Discovery contains scoops of every element that made the previous Trek television series and movies memorable. Now that may or may not be a good thing as not all those memories are fond ones yet this new series is deliberate in re-voicing the sounds of the past; quite literally when it comes to the pinging ambient sound on the bridge of the starship Shenzou which may or may not be destroyed at the end of the...

A long-lost painting by one of history's most influential painters, the Flemish artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens, has gone on public display in Scotland. The portrait, thought to be a copy of a lost original, was previously on show at Pollok House, Glasgow when it was identified by art historian Dr Bendor Grosvenor. The rare 17th-century portrait of the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, featured on BBC Four's Britain's Lost Masterpieces. Conservation work carried out on behalf of the programme...

An animal loving photographer has captured a hilarious set of pictures showing dogs leaping for treats with their eyes and mouths wide open. The ingenious snaps were taken using a technique which catches the dogs' faces a split-second before they munch down on tasty biscuits. Paws for the camera - The hilarious expressions on dogs' faces as they try to catch a treat can now be seen in one book. The photos show the dogs being excited, surprised and even...

"Sometimes you get the impression that nobody ever laughed during the period between 1914 and 1918", Ian Hislop said ahead of the opening night of the Wipers Times at Richmond Theatre. To some extent that would be true - the war was no laughing matter, after all. But in other ways it would be very un-British not to laugh in the face of adversity, and in 1916 in a bunker outside Ypres (mispronounced Wipers by British soldiers) that is precisely what...

On 29th September, 80s legends Blancmange are set to release a new album written and recorded by Neil Arthur and co-produced by Benge (Wrangler/John Foxx & The Maths and Gazelle Twin co-producer). It’s been a fantastically creative period for both of them, releasing their debut album as a new electronic duo – Fader’s First Light - in June 2017 and then the final sessions for Unfurnished Rooms followed immediately in the summer. For the new Blancmange album, all the songs...

An acclaimed playwright has hit out at "dangerous" attempts to ban performances of one of her most celebrated works featuring a transgender Jesus. A Brazilian judge has shut down a performance of Jo Clifford's The Gospel According To Jesus, Queen Of Heaven. And a prominent Catholic bishop has been calling for the play, which depicts Jesus as a transgender woman, to be banned altogether. They argue the groundbreaking work is offensive to Christians with cast and crew of the Brazilian...

Festivals follow many formats. The large outdoor type is arguably the most familiar, covering meadows, farms and abandoned complexes outside of the smog and strains of the city. There are the micro events that shrink into one building or room for a day or less, often referred to as one or half-dayers, and linked to scenes surrounding noise, punk and free improv. Then there are the fiery, post-apocalyptic deserts and beach-side palm forests shading hordes of dayglo psytrance devotees. The...

A troupe of naked ‘human canvases’ has been spotted in London today. The human canvases, created by award-winning body paint artist Sarah Attwell, were commissioned to highlight Britain’s disconnect with the art world. According to new research one in six Brits say they have never set foot in an art gallery, with half of those polled saying they haven't visited one in the last two years. Nearly a quarter of Brits were unable to name Van Gogh as the artist who painted...