Rank's Gong To Sound Again On Hull's Waterfront
For half a century, a bare-chested man striking a gong told British cinema audiences the main feature was about to begin. Now that image is to be reborn as a permanent sculpture beside the Humber, reports Group Editor Andrew Palmer. Nobody will be hitting this gong, however. Annabel McCourt's design takes it apart.
Why Has Britain Fallen In Love With Running?
Running is having a moment. From the explosion of parkrun and social running clubs to record demand for major races, more of us are pulling on our trainers, and it isn't just the hardcore pounding the streets chasing personal bests. For some, it's about fitness. For others, it's about headspace, friendship, confidence, escape, or simply an excuse to get out of the house.
Harriet: Trying To Get The Feeling Again
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With more than one million social media followers, over 100 million views and sold-out shows on both sides of the Atlantic, Harriet has had a remarkable rise over the past two years. Now, the British singer-songwriter is bringing her acclaimed Trying To Get The Feeling Again show back home to the UK this autumn, this time with her full live band.
Hear'Say and Liberty X return for co-headline tour!
Hear'Say and Liberty X are back and better than ever as they head on a UK and Ireland tour in 2027. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of their formation, Hear’Say and Liberty X have announced details of their upcoming tour - ‘Popstars: The Originals’ which will see both bands perform together for the first time ever on the same stage.
The Pussycat Dolls Land On Their Feet In Leeds
When The Pussycat Dolls toured the country in 2009, the support acts were Ne-Yo and a new artist who had initially had success in France by the name of Lady GaGa.
Film Review: Sense And Sensibility (2026)
Just to get it out of the way, I am not a Jane Austen-er. Or whatever it is Austen fans call themselves on her Reddit page (a quick Google and apparently it’s ‘Janeites’. Personally I’d have gone for Austeneers or maybe Austenauts but that’s not what I’m reviewing today).
Record-Breaking Ryedale Festival Announces New Christmas By Candlelight Concerts
Following a record-breaking summer, Ryedale Festival has announced two special Christmas concerts by candlelight, bringing Royal Northern Sinfonia and acclaimed vocal ensemble APOLLO5 to North Yorkshire this December. The announcement follows the Festival’s most successful year to date, with nearly 11,000 tickets sold, almost 10% more than the previous year.
Zack Gibson has figured it out...
At just 17, Scottish singer-songwriter Zack Gibson is already establishing himself as one of the most compelling young artists in Scotland’s new acoustic pop scene.
From Crime Scenes To Crime Fiction: Former Yorkshire Police Officer Launches New Thriller
Otley crime writer Colin Campbell draws on 30 years of real-life policing – including 15 years working on crime scenes – for the latest adventure featuring his uncompromising Yorkshire cop. A retired West Yorkshire Police officer who spent 15 years dealing with real-life crime scenes has drawn on three decades at the sharp end of policing for his latest crime thriller.
Sleeper announce End of the World tour
Sleeper have announced their biggest UK tour since reforming, with the band set to take their forthcoming sixth studio album, End of the World, on the road across the UK in March and April 2027, with South London four-piece Turin Brakes joining them as special guests.
Mean Girls - A Handbook for Teenagers Everywhere
Mean Girls hit the ground running and never let up. Full of wit and humour with a fistful of catchy songs the cast never let up from beginning to end. Providing a glimpse of life as a teenager struggling to find their place whilst adding a cautionary tale of how trying to fit in can lead to unexpected consequences.
Christmas Musical Spectacular Announced For Manchester!
This Christmas, the lights go up, the music begins with Manchester becoming the stage of CHRISTMAS MUSICAL SPECTACULAR coming to the Manchester – AO Arena on Tuesday 22nd December and Wednesday 23rd December 2026. This December, Manchester steps into the spotlight.
Afterdrive - Dressed to Drive
With their debut EP Dress to Drive on the horizon, Afterdrive are stepping into an exciting new chapter. The band have been building a reputation for energetic live performances and a sound that refuses to sit neatly inside one genre.
Zombies Shuffle Into Saltaire As Shaun Of The Dead Hits Victoria Hall
There are few films that can claim to have made a cricket bat, a Queen record and a pint at the Winchester essential tools of survival, but Shaun of the Dead managed all three – and this Thursday it lurches onto the screen at the Victoria Hall in Saltaire.
Mahogany Opera And Their Ecstasy Of The Virtues
It would be wrong of me to call the 10th century German Benedictine abbess, Hildegard of Bingen, a freak of nature: that's for much better informed parties to decide. But this lady, described, variously, as a mystic, visionary, composer, philosopher and writer of medical texts was undoubtedly more 'ethereal' than the average nun in the street.
Dan Gillespie-Sells: Still Feeling It
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Twenty years. It’s a long time in anyone’s book, but in music, where careers can come and go in the blink of an eye, it’s quite something. For Dan Gillespie-Sells, frontman of The Feeling, it’s a milestone that’s being celebrated in the best possible way: by getting back on the road and playing the album that started it all.
The Enduring Appeal Of ‘Cosy Crime’ Stories
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From bestselling novels by such famous names as Agatha Christie and Richard Osman, to hit TV shows like Death in Paradise and Only Murders in the Building – ‘cosy crime’ stories continue to be a big hit with readers and audiences alike.
It's No Shame About Evan
I’d not seen the Lemonheads since their heyday of the early 90s when, following the rapid release of Lick (1989), Lovey (1990), It’s a Shame About Ray (1992) and Come on Feel the Lemonheads (1993), their lead singer Evan Dando became the poster boy for the post-grunge slacker generation.
Albums: Blossoms Songs From The Wedding Cake
Tom Ogden’s songwriting has become noticeably more personal, drawing heavily on marriage, relationships and the small details that make up a shared life. Yet there is nothing overly grand about the subject matter. Instead, Blossoms find their material in arguments, car journeys, television nights and domestic routines, turning the stuff of everyday existence into bright, melodic indie-pop.
Albums: Vonda Shepard Nine Songs
There has never been any sense of Vonda Shepard rushing to put out a record simply for the sake of having something new to say. Instead, she has always seemed more interested in maintaining the remarkable bond she has built with her live audience, whilst allowing herself the time and space to follow her own creative process. New music arrives when it is ready — and, on Nine Songs, that patience has once again paid off.
Albums: Ella Hooper Overnight Success
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Killing Heidi was only the beginning. Hooper subsequently explored a folkier side with The Verses alongside Jesse, before embarking on a solo career that has seen her continually experiment with an array of genres and sonic landscapes. Overnight Success, her third solo album, finds her drawing all of those experiences together and planting herself firmly in the Americana and country sphere.
When Historians Start Prating
There is a particular style of historical writing and lecturing which irritates me disproportionately. It is not history itself that bothers me; on the contrary, I find the attempt to understand the past endlessly fascinating, which is why I watch a good deal of historical “documentaries” and avidly read both historical nonfiction and fiction.
Albums: Echo & The Bunnymen – Apples For Isaac
Apples for Isaac isn't trying to be their classic album Ocean Rain again. Nor should it. Those records belong to another time. What matters here is that Echo & the Bunnymen have found a way to acknowledge their history without allowing it to dictate their future.
Classical Music: Requiem Da Camera, For St Cecilia & In Terra Pax
The disc is the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge's thirtieth for Hyperion, and the first since Steven Grahl took up the baton as director of music. Any anxiety that the choir's famously burnished sound might falter in the changeover can be laid to rest within a few bars. If anything, it has acquired a fresh bloom. Tone, diction, soloists, accompaniment and Hyperion's characteristically sumptuous engineering are first-class from every angle, and the whole has the feeling of a choir singing music it loves.
Classical Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams From Ursula, With Love
The story behind it is as touching as the music. Ursula Vaughan Williams kept these recordings, and in 1996 she passed them to Stephen Connock, at that time chairman of the RVW Society, so that it could eventually release them. Of the seventeen tracks, fourteen are getting their first commercial release, while the remaining three appear to have been taken from a BBC transmission. Hence the title: From Ursula, with Love.
Classical Music: Franck Quintet Enescu Octet
Two decades separate the works on this disc, yet César Franck's Piano Quintet and George Enescu's Octet make natural companions. Both push chamber music to the edge of the symphonic, both build vast structures from a handful of recurring ideas, and both demand players who can sustain intensity over long spans. Recorded at Nordstrom Recital Hall in Seattle and produced by Simon Kiln, the album features violinist James Ehnes, artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society, at the head of a hand-picked ensemble of colleagues.
Classical Music: Granville Bantock Orchestral Works
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Rumon Gamba and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra are on top form, attentive to every nuance and playing with real elegance. Every section excels, the tutti passages are well controlled, and the lower strings and percussion add richness to the sound. Chandos provides a warm, detailed recording. Bantock's parents had other plans for him, and English music is richer for their disappointment.
Review: Peas On Your Knees - A Life In The Poems Of Michael Rosen
To read Michael Rosen’s poems out loud is to hear an echo. For to give voice to a random selection of his most performable verses is to be accompanied by Rosen himself, declaiming at one’s shoulder, but with infinitely greater skill and idiosyncratic grace.
The Perfect Schools Out Theatre Production
A play for family audiences based on a classic story by Oscar Wilde comes to Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre this October half-term. The Selfish Giant (26 and 27 October) invites audiences to step into the magical world of the Giant’s garden. It’s full of music, beauty, birdsong and stories. But the Giant is cross to find children – children!
Sugababes announce March 2027 UK Tour!
Sugababes have announced a run of major UK live shows for March, bringing their celebrated catalogue and new music to fans in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester.