Entertainment News

10cc have announced a new UK tour for 2022, where they will celebrate the hits which have seen them recognised as one of the most inventive and influential bands in popular music.

The Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour will begin in Liverpool on March 25, and take in York, Nottingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Bath, Southend, the iconic London Palladium, Bournemouth, Birmingham, Guildford, Glasgow and Gateshead.

Led by co-founder Graham Gouldman, 10cc are heralded in equal measure for their ability to craft ingenious songs that also resonated commercially. The icons of art-rock achieved eleven Top 10 hits, and over 15 million albums sold in the UK alone, with three No.1 singles – Rubber Bullets, Dreadlock Holiday and the ubiquitous I’m Not In Love.

The current 10cc line-up features Gouldman (bass, guitar, vocals), Rick Fenn (lead guitar, bass, vocals), Paul Burgess (drums, percussion) – both of whom have been with the band since the early years - Keith Hayman (keyboards, guitars, bass, vocals) and Iain Hornal (vocals, percussion, guitar, keyboards).

In a message to fans, Gouldman says, “It’s difficult to express just how much we have missed playing live and how much we want to be back playing concerts for you. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2022.”

In recent years, 10cc have toured worldwide, playing in Australia, Canada, Japan, Iceland, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, the USA, and across Europe and throughout the UK - including sold out shows to over 60,000 people at British Summer Time (BST) in Hyde Park, and numerous sold out shows at the 5,200-capacity Royal Albert Hall.

Radford has use of its own race track. Following its recent return, the iconic coachbuilder is announcing its association with the recently renamed Radford Racing School, in Arizona, USA. The iconic Radford brand is being revitalised by leading car designer Mark Stubbs, TV presenter and car builder Ant Anstead, former FIA Formula One World Champion, Jenson Button, and leading business adviser and lawyer Roger Behle.

The agreement to grant Radford use of the racetrack was instigated by the Radford board and Stig Investments, which owns the track facility. Radford will create contemporary luxury commissions true to classic timeless designs, bringing a modern and relevant version of coach-building, to a new discerning clientele. 

Jenson Button said: “For a car to be truly great, it has to feel as good as it looks. It has to possess both style and substance in equal measures, and that you can only achieve through extensive testing and improvement. Great engineering is only achieved through obsession over every detail and marginal gains.

“The testing that all Radfords will be put through is integral to creating the smiles on the faces of those that get to drive them. A race track is the perfect environment for this and it’s also my happy place of course.”

Ant Anstead commented: “Not many coachbuilders have a racetrack to call home. For all of us, part of the revival of the Radford brand is to stay true to founder Harold Radford. He was an innovator – and he would want his cars to be perfect in every way.

“Track development, led by Jenson, is integral to achieving that for our future cars. As we revive this famous brand, this marks the first of many exciting developments and partnerships.

“We can’t wait to share them with you.” The first Radford car is already in development and will be subject to an announcement soon. 

A 3,000-year-old ceremonial gold mask has become an unexpected social media sensation in China after its recent discovery in Sichuan province. The artefact was one of 500 Bronze-Age relics found at the Sanxingdui archaeological site.

Experts say the discovery could provide new insights on the ancient Shu state, which ruled the area before 316 BC. But the mysterious half-faced mask has also spawned a popular meme and tribute videos on social media.

As soon as the latest batch of discoveries was announced, users of microblogging platform Weibo started to make pictures that superimposed the mask on the faces of pop culture figures. The hashtag "Sanxingdui gold mask photo editing competition" has been viewed nearly 4 million times, and has spawned numerous posts as netizens praised the "stunning" and "beautiful" mask.

Officials at the museum for Sanxingdui - one of the most important archaeological sites in China - soon joined in on the fun. The museum said in a recent Weibo post while sharing its own take on the meme: "Good morning, we've just woken up, apparently everyone's been busy doing some Photoshopping?"

The museum also released a promotional animated music video starring the mask and other artefacts, while a rap song created by a TV host praising the "intelligence" of the ancient civilisation has gone viral. It is not the first time a Chinese artefact has attracted the attention of social media users - in August, another relic was found to resemble the pig characters in popular video game Angry Birds.

In addition to the gold mask, archaeologists at Sanxingdui have found bronze pieces, gold foils as well as artefacts made from ivory, jade and silk. The items were uncovered in six sacrificial pits, said the National Cultural Heritage Administration, which the Shu civilisation used to offer sacrifices in prayers for prosperity and peace.

The Sanxingdui ruins were discovered by accident by a farmer in 1929. To date, more than 50,000 relics have been unearthed at the site, which is around 60km (37 miles) from the city of Chengdu.

The Concours of Elegance, presented by A. Lange & Söhne, will host the oldest surviving Aston Martin during its 2021 event at Hampton Court Palace this September. Aston Martin ‘A3’ was the third car ever built by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford, and was extensively driven by the founders. This year, it celebrates its centenary.

The Concours of Elegance was first established in 2012 to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, with a collection of 60 of the rarest cars in the world in the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle. Since then the Concours of Elegance has evolved into a world-renowned celebration of craftsmanship, design and innovation, hosted since 2017 at Hampton Court Palace, but always with spectacular cars like the Aston Martin ‘A3’at its heart.

Given its name because it is built on chassis no.3 and uses a Type A engine, ‘A3’ produces just 11hp from its four-cylinder side-valve engine. Nevertheless, it was raced in period, and proved capable of setting speed records, achieving an average of more than 86mph over 100 miles at the Brooklands circuit.

By 1923, the car’s life as a factory prototype was complete and it was sold to a customer. It changed hands a number of times until history shows it under the ownership of R.W. Mallabar in 1927. Following a con-rod failure, the car returned to Aston Martin for an engine rebuild, at which time the car was refinished in pale grey (rather than its original black) with red wheels.

The next time ‘A3’ reappears in the history books is 2002 when it was identified at auction as the third Aston Martin ever produced. In 2003 a generous donation enabled ‘A3’ to be purchased by the Aston Martin Heritage Trust, who entrusted it to Ecurie Bertelli for a full restoration to as close as original specification.

A new body was designed and hand-beaten into shape to replace the later green body that had been added at some point in A3’s life, a new ash bodyframe was built, the engine was rebuilt, the radiator was refurbished and the chromium finish removed. The car is presented today in full working order, with its factory specification black paintwork, preserving an extremely important part of Aston Martin history.

The display of Aston Martin ‘A3’ is just the latest in a spectacular partnership between Aston Martin, particularly the Aston Martin Owner’s Club (AMOC), and the Concours of Elegance. At the inaugural event in 2012, Mark Donoghue of the AMOC arranged for sixty Aston Martins – one from each year of Her Majesty The Queen’s reign – to be lined up along Windsor Castle’s Long Walk. Then, in 2019, Donoghue was responsible for arranging AMOC’s show-stopping display of one example of every single Aston Martin Zagato model produced, many of which are one-offs.

The ‘A3’ will form part of the Main Concours display at Concours of Elegance 2021, a line-up of the world’s rarest cars set to go on display at Concours of Elegance 2021, taking in some of the finest European coachbuilt cars ever built, a collection of Gulf and Martini-liveried motorsport heroes and the very latest bespoke hypercars. The event will also welcome a number of special features and displays, including a celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s 95^th birthday, bringing with it a British car from each year of Her Majesty’s life. In total, over 1,000 rare and exotic cars will be on display across the weekend.

Outside of the automotive displays, Concours of Elegance remains an occasion of pure luxury, with champagne provided by Charles Heidsieck, picnics by Fortnum & Mason, live stage interviews with Chubb Insurance, hosted by Jodie Kidd, and a collection of art, jewellery and fashion displays. Presenting Partner, A. Lange & Söhne, recently confirmed to support the event for a further three years, will continue to showcase some of its most intricate timepieces.

The family of Aretha Franklin have denounced a new dramatisation of the singer's life, saying they were not consulted and "do not support" the show.

Genius: Aretha stars British Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, and is being shown in eight parts on US channel National Geographic this week. But the Queen of Soul's family say they were cut out of the production process.

They have asked fans to boycott the series, saying: "This is about common, decent respect for our family." The singer's granddaughter Grace posted a video of her protesting against the show alongside her parents, siblings and friends last week.

In a TikTok clip, they can be seen chanting: "This movie has to go! This movie has to go!" she explained in the video: "As the immediate family, we feel that it's important to be involved with any biopic of my grandma's life, as it's hard to get any accurate depiction of anyone's life without speaking to the ones closest to them.

"During the process of writing, directing, and filming this movie, we've reached out to Genius as a family on multiple occasions where we have been disrespected and told we will not be worked with. As the immediate family - emphasis on immediate - we do not support this film and we ask that you also do not support this film, as we feel extremely disrespected, and we feel there will be many inaccuracies about my grandmother's life."

Aretha Franklin was one of the biggest stars of pop, soul, gospel and R&B, who scored more than 100 hit singles on the US Billboard charts - from Chain of Fools and Respect to Think and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman. Her extraordinary success was matched by an equally dramatic personal life, in which she survived abusive relationships and worked with civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King.

A separate big-screen biopic of her life was already in production when she died of pancreatic cancer in 2018. Starring Jennifer Hudson, it has been produced with input from the family and is due to hit screens this summer. The National Geographic series was announced in 2019, and the star's family said their efforts to contact the producers were rebuffed.

Franklin's son Kecalf said: "What we've found out in the past is that usually when people don't want to work with you, that is a prelude to some type of unprofessional behaviour or a prelude to some type of untruth or slander, so we're not quite sure where we're going to see in this series." The family admitted they had not seen the programme, which was largely written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.  They did not intend to watch the first two episodes when they were broadcasted, Kecalf added.

Responding to the Franklin family's criticism, National Geographic noted that it had permission to make the film from Franklin's estate, which is currently a separate entity amid disputes over the singer's will. However, that permission did not extend to licensing her biggest songs, including Respect and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

The channel added that the intention of the Genius series, which has previously depicted the lives of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, was a tribute to Aretha's genius - something we hope we can all celebrate.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: "We received the message from the family, we hear them and acknowledge their concern for Ms Franklin's legacy. We think we have a shared goal here - to honour and celebrate the life and legacy of Aretha Franklin.

“We can tell you that everyone who worked on Genius: Aretha approached telling her story with the intention to respect Ms Franklin in every aspect of the series and in every decision we made." Early reviews for the series have been mixed with critics praising Erivo's performances.

BBC News Reader Clive Myrie has been named the new host of quiz show Mastermind, replacing John Humphrys, who has stepped down after 18 years. He will be the fifth host of the BBC Two quiz, which marks its 50th anniversary next year.

Following the announcement he said: "They are big shoes to fill but all I can do is bring a little bit of my own personality to what is a grounded format. That side of me is still very much there, but it's good to be able to be liberated every now and again when I do Mastermind." He will continue to present programmes like the BBC's News at Six and Ten.

Myrie recently won two Royal Television Society journalism awards - for network presenter of the year and television journalist of the year. As well as being a newsreader, he is known for his work as a foreign correspondent and recently fronted a series of acclaimed reports from hospitals dealing with the Covid pandemic.

"I can't imagine they would have got me to present Mastermind if it was just seeing me in some refugee camp in Yemen," he said. "It's that other side of my personality that I think they noticed." He said he thought producers had offered him the Mastermind job after seeing his lighter side on the BBC News Channel's late-night newspaper round-up.

In a statement, BBC's director of entertainment, Kate Phillips, said: "Clive will be a superb host, witty, wise and with a wicked sense of humour, he's a consummate interrogator who understands the fear involved when facing a barrage of questions in the spotlight." Myrie said he might change little things on his new programme, but added: "The fundamental format, the basic structure - the chair, the spotlight on the individual who's dealing with this - is going to stay the same.

"You can have a bit more fun in the celebrity series, for instance. That's maybe where there's a little bit more latitude." He will begin filming in July, with the show set to return to screens later in the year.

On Saturday March 27th at 8pm, Trinidad and Tobago’s island-Rock impresarios Orange Sky will take global music fans on a musical journey in celebration of the band’s 25^th anniversary. The virtual extravaganza will be powered by cultural supporter Carib Beer.

With 7 full length albums, three international recording contracts, major tours of the US, United Kingdom, India and several Caribbean islands, multiple radio hits (on local, regional & satellite radio) and over 700 live shows, Orange Sky commemorates a quarter-century as a prominent unit. The past 25 years have provided many musical highs for the Caribbean Rock-fusion ensemble such as opportunities to perform alongside the members’ music heroes from Rock giants Malmsteen, Kings X and Kansas to Reggae legends Steel Pulse, Damian & Stephen Marley and Beres Hammond as well as the chance to work on 3 albums with world-renowned record producers.

Orange Sky currently consists of Nigel Rojas (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Nicholas Rojas (Bass & Back-Up Vocals), Dax Cartar (Guitar) and Dion Camacho (Drums). Regarding the motivation behind this forthcoming streamed event, the band’s frontman Nigel Rojas shared, “We wanted to share our pride, joy and gratitude with all our friends and fans around the world in the way that we know best ...by jamming live! We’re looking forward to performing songs from our vast catalogue as well as brand new material from our upcoming album ‘Strange Days’.

The upcoming virtual concert experience is a collaboration of the band, producer Khafra Rudder of Bassyard, North Eleven Productions, Alan Tia Sounds, Splice Studios & Kerron Lemmesey (Lemmessey Productions) with support from Benny Hatem, The Lollabee Group, Burger King and Subway. Most notably it received tremendous corporate support from Carib Beer.

With regards to the brand’s involvement in this significant milestone for Orange Sky, Category Manager of Carib Beer, Antron Forte shared, “There is tremendous musical talent in Trinidad and Tobago and we at Carib Brewery are always energized by the long standing contributions and achievements of local stars, Nigel Rojas and the members of Orange Sky. Carib Beer continues to support our local artistes and we are elated to be part of this 25th anniversary celebration.

Pakistani film Zindagi Tamasha may not have seen the light of day in the country but the Sarmad Khoosat-directorial is making waves internationally.

The highly acclaimed actor Arif Hassan who essayed the lead role of Rahat Khawaja in Zindagi Tamasha (Circus of Life), bagged the top prize at the 6th Annual Asian World Film Festival. The Snow Leopard Award for Best Actor was extended to the Gardaab star during the award ceremony earlier this week and was presented by Jury member Joanne Goh.

Following the announcement noted Pakistani writer Muhammad Hanif turned to Twitter to extend his felicitations while still playing a little safe. “Congratulations to makers of Zindagi Tamasha. Not tagging them as still scared for them. Not saying [expletive] to those who stopped its release cos still scared of them,” he wrote.

Directed and co-produced by Sarmad Khoosat along with his sister Kanwal Khoosat, Zindagi Tamasha is a bilingual movie shot in Lahore. Written by Nirmal Bano, a fresh graduate from Lahore's National College of Arts (NCA), the film features model-turned-actress Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz, Arif Hasan and Ali Qureshi in pivotal roles, with Sarmad having a special appearance in the upcoming film.

Former Top Gear presenter Sabine Schmitz - famous for being the only woman to win the Nurburgring 24 Hours - has died. Last year she said that she had been diagnosed with cancer in 2017.

Schmitz had become synonymous with the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the 14-mile circuit in Germany that is renowned as the toughest in the world. She won the 24-hour touring car race at the track twice, in 1996 and 1997, driving a BMW M3.

She became known as the "Queen of the Nurburgring" and estimated she had driven around the track more than 20,000 times. Later she gained acclaim for an appearance on Top Gear in 2004 in which she drove a van around the track, and subsequently became a presenter on the show alongside Chris Evans in 2016.

This Sunday’s (March 21) episode of Top Gear will be dedicated to Schmitz, with Clare Pizey, executive producer, saying: "Sabine was a beloved member of the Top Gear family and presenting team since 2016, having first appeared on the show in 2004, and everyone who had the pleasure of working with her on the team is in shock at this news.

"Sabine radiated positivity, always wore her cheeky smile no matter how hard things got - and was a force of nature for women drivers in the motoring world.

“Like everyone else who knew her, we will truly miss her - Sabine really was one of a kind. Our thoughts are with her partner Klaus, who was always by her side and who we welcomed to Dunsfold many times, and her family in Germany."

Top Gear presenter Chris Harris said Schmitz was a wonderful, powerful, hilarious person while the show's former presenter Jeremy Clarkson paid tribute by tweeting she was "such a sunny person and so full of beans".

Formula 1 said Schmitz was "a force of nature" who inspired "a new generation of motorsport enthusiasts".

She was 51.

Yaphet Kotto, best known for playing a villain in 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die, has died at the age of 81. The actor also played a crew member in 1979 sci-fi movie Alien, and starred in US TV police drama Homicide: Life on the Street.

Born Fredrick Kotto in Harlem, New York of Cameroonian royal ancestry (his great -grandfather had been a king in pre-colonial days) and raised in both the Jewish and the Catholic faith at the behest of his parents (his father was a former businessman-turned construction worker who emigrated to America in the 1920's; his mother was a nurse and army officer), he began to study acting at the age of 16.

His father, Njoki Manga Bell, was the great-grandson of King Alexander Bell, who ruled the Douala region of Cameroon in the late 19th century, before the nation fell into the hands of Germany and, later, France and Britain. Fleeing the Germans, Manga Bell immigrated to Harlem in the 1920s and changed his name to Abraham Kotto (the surname is from a relative). ‘Yaphet’ means ‘beautiful’ in Hebrew.

At 19, he made his professional theatre debut in Othello, and later performed on Broadway in The Great White Hope. His first few film projects included Nothing But a Man in 1964 and The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968. He also had an aunt in showbiz who ran a dance academy whose alumni included Marlon Brando and James Dean.

One of the few actors of his generation to succeed in breaking racial stereotypes in Hollywood, he drew plaudits for his role as the first Black Bond villain Dr Kananga - an evil Caribbean diplomat masquerading as a New York drug lord - in Live and Let Die. He then had roles in 1974's Truck Turner and 1978's Blue Collar.  In the film Alien, he played the space ship's engineer Dennis Parker. Following the film's success, he turned down a role in Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back because he was wary of becoming typecast in the sci-fi genre and appeared in the blockbuster 1988 crime/thriller Midnight Run alongside Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin.

His other credits included the action thriller The Running Man, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. And he received an Emmy nomination for playing former Ugandan President Idi Amin in the 1977 movie Raid on Entebbe. His TV career included roles in the A-Team and Law and Order, and one of Kotto's longest roles was that of Lieutenant Al Giardello in seven series of Homicide: Life on the Street, for which he also worked as a scriptwriter.

In an interview he said: "I wanted to get back down on Earth. I was afraid that if I did another space film after having done Alien, then I'd be typed. Once you get one of those big blockbuster hits, you better have some other big blockbuster hits to go with it too and be Harrison Ford, because if you don't… you place yourself right out of the business."

He was known for turning down the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard - made famous by Sir Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation - saying: "I should have done that, but I walked away." He admitted: "When you're making movies, you'd tend to say no to TV. It's like when you're in college and someone asks you to the high school dance. You say no."

Yaphet went on to play a supporting role as Richard Dickie Coombes in Brubaker in 1980, and then appear in The Running Man. His other film credits also included Bill Cosby's Man and Boy (1971), Across 110th Street (1972), Report to the Commissioner (1975), The Star Chamber (1983), Warning Sign (1985), Eye of the Tiger (1986) and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). His other TV roles included appearances in For Love and Honor, Murder She Wrote and Death Valley Days.

Most recently, he reprised his role as Lieutenant Giardello in Homicide: The Movie in 2000, and voiced his Alien character Parker in the Alien: Isolation video game.

Dying age 81, the three-time married star is survived by six children.

As superstar Beyoncé made history at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, her daughter Blue Ivy Carter made her own history by becoming the second-youngest Grammys winner ever at the ceremony.

While Beyoncé became the most decorated female Grammys winner with 28, 9-year old Blue Ivy was recognised, alongside artists Wizkid and SAINt JHN, for featuring on the hit, ‘Brown Skin Girl,’ from ‘The Lion King: The Gift.’ 

Beyoncé was the most nominated artist of the night as she was up in nine categories. The iconic singer secured four wins — for Best Music Video for the afore mentioned ‘Brown Skin Girl,’ Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion for ‘Savage,’ and Best R&B Performance for ‘Black Parade.’

Blue Ivy has music writing credit on her mother's song. Leah Peasall was 8 years old when The Peasall Sisters won album of the year at the 2002 ceremony for their appearance on the T Bone Burnett-produced ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ soundtrack.

“It was so important to me in 'Brown Skin Girl' that we represented all different shades of brown," said Beyoncé, who along with Blue Ivy, Kelly Rowland, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Campbell and more appear in the Jenn Nkiru-directed video. On the day of the video's release, Beyoncé shared an exclusive message with ‘Good Morning America’ about the project.

"We wanted every character to be shot in a regal light,” she said. “Jenn Nkiru came up with the Black debutantes. It was important that we are all in this together and we all are celebrating each other.”

The music video for ‘Brown Skin Girl’ was released in August 2020, weeks after the release of Beyoncé's visual album, ‘Black is King,’ on Disney+.

Film director Spike Lee has again been asked to chair the Cannes Film Festival jury after last year's event was cancelled because of the pandemic. This means it will be the first Black film-maker to take on the prestigious role.

Lee has premiered seven films at the festival with him saying in a video message: "Cannes will always have a deep spot in my heart. This year's event is due to take place in July instead of its usual May slot.

On the decision the legendary creative artist said: "Book my flight now. My wife Tonya and I, we're coming." But with Covid-19 cases still at high levels in France, there is a chance that the event could be called off again.

In a statement festival president Pierre Lescure said: "Throughout the months of uncertainty we've just been through, Spike Lee has never stopped encouraging us. We could not have hoped for a more powerful personality to chart our troubled times."

Lee first made an impact on the film industry at Cannes in 1986 with She's Gotta Have It, which won the youth award. He returned to the festival three years later with Do The Right Thing, his landmark film about one day of charged race relations in Brooklyn.

Other Lee films to have been screened at Cannes have included Summer of Sam and BlacKkKlansman, while he is also known for the epic Malcolm X and his latest release, Da 5 Bloods, about a group of US Army veterans returning to Vietnam. The official selection for this year's festival, along with the rest of the jury, are due to be

named in early June.

Spike Lee Joint productions are responsible for award-winning films include: School Daze, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, Clockers, Girl 6,  Get on the Bus, He Got Game and Pass Over.

Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai is the only Asian to have been president of the Cannes jury, while French-Algerian actress Isabelle Adjani was the first of African descent to preside in 1997.

Beyoncé is now the holder of the record for most Grammy wins by a female artist and by any male or female singer and is now the most-awarded woman in Grammys history, overtaking bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.

The star picked up three awards at the Grammys 2021 ceremony – Best Music Video for ‘Brown Skin Girl’, Best R&B Performance for ‘Black Parade’, and Best Rap Performance for her remix of Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Savage’.

"I am so honoured, I'm so excited," she said while accepting her record-breaking trophy, for best R&B performance. Grammys host Trevor Noah announced that Beyoncé had tied the record after she accepted the latter award with the Houston rapper. At the time, Alison Krauss also held the record with 27 wins.

Beyoncé's 28th Grammy was presented in honour of the Black Parade movement, a celebration of Black power and resilience, which she released on Juneteenth last year.

"As an artist, I believe it's my job to reflect the times, and it's been such a difficult time," she said. "So I wanted to uplift, encourage, celebrate all of the beautiful Black queens and kings that continue to inspire me and inspire the world".

The former Destiny’s Child has now equalled super-producer Qunicy Jones' total of 28 Grammys. Only classical conductor Sir Georg Solti has more, with 31. She was also part of another historic moment - when Megan Thee Stallion became the first female artist to win the best rap song award after picking up the prize for her breakout hit Savage (Remix), on which Beyoncé delivers a guest verse.

Taylor Swift also made history as she became the first female artist to win album of the year three times. She was rewarded for her lockdown album Folklore - after previously winning with Fearless in 2010 and the pop opus 1989 in 2016.

British artists also excelled at the ceremony as Harry Styles accepted his first Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo performance for Watermelon Sugar whilst singer/songwriter Dua Lipa won her award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Future Nostalgia. The singer said: "Oh my goodness. Wow, thank you so much. This is insane. 'Future Nostalgia' means the absolute world to me and it has changed my life in so many ways.

"But one thing that I have really come to realise is how much happiness is so important. I felt really dated at the end of my last album where I felt like I only had to make sad music to feel like it mattered. And I'm just so grateful and so honoured because happiness is something we all deserve and need in our lives."

Legendary Formula 1 commentator Murray Walker has died.

After covering his first grand prix for the BBC at Silverstone in 1949, the Birmingham-born icon of the sport became a full-time F1 commentator in 1978 before becoming synonymous with F1 through his commentary career - first with the BBC and then ITV.

Described in the sport as being "knowledgeable beyond words” he was fully armed with a passion that would occasionally get the better of him whilst commenting as he brought the sport and some of its greatest moments to life in a way that ensured they remained seared in people’s memories.

Hugely respected in the sport – on both sides of the mic – many (themselves legends) in F1 have been sharing their memories of the effervescent master ‘wordsmith’.

For F1 driver, Martin Brundle – who later became a co-commentator alongside Walker, describe him as a: “wonderful man in every respect. He was a national treasure and a communication genius - a Formula 1 legend."

On social media, 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill said: “Murray has been with me for my whole life and I don't think anybody thought this day would come, but sadly it has,” whilst three-time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart said: "He was a very special man in every respect. I was lucky enough to know him well. He was the perfect gentleman, a man who had great style and great skills with the English language. Murray was the best."

Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan called Walker a "legend. He was so well prepared," added Jordan. "He was very nonchalant about it, he didn't give that impression but he had the knowledge.

"When he was doing the commentary, he had every single angle covered. He was brilliant at it." Walker, who served in a tank regiment during World War Two, was appointed an OBE in 1996 for his services to broadcasting and motor racing.

Survived by his wife of more than 60 years Elizabeth, was 97.

They have been rocking the world with their incredible heavy metal music for more than 50 years. And now Birmingham's finest, Black Sabbath, are to be spruced up ready to greet a new parade of fans for when the city's Broad Street reopens after lockdown.

Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, who collectively adorn the 'heavy metal' bench on Black Sabbath Bridge, are getting a much-needed 'touch-up' to keep them looking good. The distinctive bench, which sits above the canal off Broad Street, was officially opened by Geezer and Tony in June 2019.

It has since attracted thousands of Black Sabbath fans, and media, from all over the world. But the combination of construction work and the legion of fans making a pilgrimage to have their photo taken with their heroes has taken its toll.

The restoration work includes re-painting the distinctive portraits of Geezer, Tony, Ozzy and Bill, and repairing any scratches or chips. The bench will remain in place on the recently re-named bridge during the clean-up, unlike when it was temporarily removed in October 2019 due to the Metro extension.

Stewart Francis, of Etch Components, who was involved in the original work, has now been commissioned to smarten the bench up. He said: “We are re-dressing all the faces because of the building work that's gone on with the dirt, muck and grease that's gone onto the bench, and people sitting on it. We are re-cleaning it, re-setting it, ready for when Broad Street re-opens.”

Mr Francis said the bench was bearing the consequence of people sitting on it and leaning against the four band members to have their photo taken.

"It's a victim of its own success,” he said. “You get marks where people have rubbed it, put their arms around it, worn jackets that have got zips and things that have scratched into it. It just makes it look a bit shabby, so we like to keep it dressed and looking smart. When it's finished it will all look pristine and how it should be.”

Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, commissioned the original bench project and wants it to continue to draw tourists to the city. He said: “Black Sabbath are arguably Birmingham's most famous band, so it's fitting that they continue to attract fans to the city through this bench.

“It's lost a bit of its gloss due to all the building work, and the thousands of fans wanting to sit on it, so we are cleaning it up ready for when we can re-open Broad Street's bars, clubs and restaurants.”

Common wisdom was never going to suit Gretta Ray. Her first release of 2021 introduces an innovative concept in new music sharing: Duologies — two songs joined in theme but creatively distinct, issued as a pair, with echoes of the classic Double A-sided single. 
 
"The idea of paired songs is something I've already played with," the Melbourne singer-songwriter says, pointing to her Here and Now EP of 2018. "I used to refer to Radio Silence and Time on stage as 'sister songs': they’re about the same scenario from different angles.”
 
"When I write a song, I often find it's in response to something that I’ve already written about, whether that be a week or a year ago. Bigger Than Me and Readymade are both songs about my relationship with creativity, which is something that I can become very obsessive about, especially since I’ve found myself on that path, completely immersed in it, collaborating with a lot of like-minded people."
 
Rising from the simmering thrill of a strange inner-city hotel to the vertigo of 30,000 feet, Bigger Than Me is a big, exhilarating pop song that embraces the leap of faith in Gretta's meteoric journey, from winning Triple J Unearthed and the Vanda & Young Songwriting Award at 18 to her recent inroads in London and the USA.
 
"I was aware I'd entered this new chapter of my life: travelling to create, and meeting and working with creative people," she says. “When we wrote Bigger Than Me, I was reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert at the time, which is a very beautiful take on creativity being this kind of spiritual outer force that we engage with."
 
Bigger Than Me, co-produced by Robby De Sa and Dylan Nash, was an act of almost ecstatic collaboration, written in one 12-hour session with Dylan Nash (Dean Lewis) and Ned Philpot in Sydney, and destined to become a peak gig experience. 
 
The video shot in Melbourne and directed by Josh Harris brings the vibrant song to life with a glowing and lively performance from Gretta. ‘‘This video is a colourful celebration of my relationship to the outer, all-consuming force that is creativity. An ode to all my creative collaborators and mentors over the years.” says Gretta of the video. 

 
On the flip side, Readymade arrived four months later, written with Duncan Boyce (Sam Smith) in London under the same thematic spell, but with the more intimate, reflective tone of an inner voice in a quiet room.
 
"Readymade is the after-show moment, when everything falls away, there’s that ringing in your ears in the empty hotel room with the adrenaline calming down… but the comfort of that creative force is still very much with you," Gretta says. "It's like going home to your creative self; the only love that's forever."
 
Bigger Than Me / Readymade is the first in a series of Duologies lined up for release through 2021.