Is the traditional pop svengali dead in the age of social media where info is easily shared directly from star to fan with little use for a middleman? How did PR teams in decades past promote their acts? This BBC4 documentary sought to answer those questions, unlocking the secrets of how household names established their […]
Looking more like a white-walled Roman villa with its impressive architecture and winding staircases, The Halcyon Gallery, New Bond Street was a fittingly vainglorious venue for this exhibition of superstars. Artist Russell Young has put a post-modern twist on the pop art phenomenon that Andy Warhol popularised in the 60s. Every iconic star from Grace […]
Set against the scenic canal side location of The Proud Archivist in Haggerston, The Conclave stands alone as London’s only weekly film festival. Its Monday night offering of shorts vary from music videos to major festival fare. No less than five of the films had also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival including Peace In […]
ITV’s Sunday evening tribute to entertainer Sammy Davis Jr was a combination of dazzling tap dancing skills and commentary on the racial politics of 1950s and 60s America. Host Bruce Forsyth described him as the best black tap dancer ever – pointing out that the hunched shoulder style differed from the stiff, upright style of […]
Chief Davies-Okundaye is, indeed, a Yoruba chief, but her life story is one of entrepreneurial vision and an independent spirit. She points out that she achieved everything on her own merit after her separation from a husband with 15 wives and 62 children. She is now such a renowned artist that as well as this […]
A new exhibition at The British Library celebrates one of the greatest works of Spanish literature and its accompanied illustrations down the centuries. Imagining Don Quixote examines Cervantes’ novel Don Quixote with the focus on the artwork because it has become the darling of illustrators throughout history from Gustave Dore through to Salvador Dali. For […]
In a week where black actors were snubbed at the Oscars and actor Idris Elba addressed MPs over the lack of diversity on television, two black British actors stole the show in ITV’s £17million TV series Beowulf. Strangely enough, the drama is based on an Anglo-Saxon poem written in 700 AD when black numbers in […]
Artist Joseph Mallord William Turner is regarded as an undoubted national treasure and along with Constable probably the most recognisable name in the history of British art. His status as a master of landscape painting reflected by the Tate National’s guided tours which walk visitors through the evolution of his career from 1789 to his […]
Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel about Napoleon’s invasion of Russia is certainly a book and a half. Renowned for being one of the longest ever written, my earliest memories are of buying a copy as a teenager and being determined to read it cover to cover. The ‘big read’ factor didn’t put me off, in fact […]
As we move into the early days of 2016 last year’s numerous international conflicts, natural disasters, health and development issues remain on the global conscience. The Fighting Extremes: From Ebola to Isis exhibition at the Imperial War Museum highlights the role of the British armed forces in this respect with displays reflecting the range and […]
Hillary Clinton Graffiti/Painting Shoreditch By Street Artist Pegasus
