The anguished, tragically short life of Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani is the subject of a new Johnny Depp film project as director, with Al Pacino producing. He became renowned for his pictures of nudes with elongated faces and limbs as well as his vagabond lifestyle in bohemian Paris in the early 20th … Read more
Freedom of speech has been dragged centre foreground again after the attack on Salman Rushdie and has triggered a spat in the Society of Authors, who of all people should have been waving the banner for the right to speak up or write without fear of retaliation. Joanne Harris, the chairperson, best-selling author of Chocolat, … Read more
Singer Darius, of Pop Idol and West End Musicals renown, who has twice before survived near death experiences, has died at the young age of 41. No cause has been given. In 2010 he broke his neck in a car crash which could have paralysed or killed him. Then he was left seriously ill in … Read more
Trade unionist Mick Lynch, General Secretary of the Rail Workers and promoter of the recent strikes, is striking fear into the heart of the government and right-wingers about a return to the bad old days of constant disruption. Although there is widespread unease about financial hardship amongst the wider population which should garner sympathy for … Read more
Anne Heche has been declared dead as a result of injuries sustained in her self-inflicted car crash becoming the fourth of five siblings to die; and still estranged from her religious mother. The family upbringing was damaging to put it politely. Nancy Heche, 10 March 1937, Vinita, OK, married her childhood sweetheart, lived … Read more
Novelist Salman Rushdie, for years the target of Islamist death threats, has been stabbed repeatedly on stage while speaking at a literary event in New York State. His agent said he is now on a ventilator and unable to speak, may lose one eye, the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver stabbed … Read more
Creativity emerging from destruction is another redemptive tale from the life and talent of Issey Miyake, the Japanese fashion designer, who has just died aged 84. He was seven when the US detonated an atomic bomb over his hometown of Hiroshima. He was riding to school on his bicycle at the time. “When I close … Read more
UK Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has condemned the government for acting like “zombies” over the energy crisis, as he warned of the “cataclysmic” rise in bills, which are likely to more than double by January. Plus inflation sending food prices up, mortgages and rent rising. All the while BJ skips off on holiday after … Read more
Royal devotees are due a binge-feste next month with The Empress, a six- parter about Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sissi), a hyper-active and unconventional 19th Century monarch with a stressed family life. Married at 16 to Emperor Franz Josef I who was passionately in love with her, she rebelled against his dullness and restrictive court … Read more
Olivia Newton John, the bubbly blonde, girl-next-door country pop star who struck a chord in public affection has died of the cancer which has plagued her for thirty years. Her breakthrough role opposite John Travolta in the 1978 film Grease saw her catapulted to world wide fame as it became the highest-grossing musical film ever … Read more