Arts & Culture
Fontella Bass dies aged 72 following heart attack complications
Soul singer Fontella Bass, best known for the hit single Rescue Me, has died of complications following a heart attack at the age of...
Fifty Sheds of Grey parody outsells original Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Sheds of Grey, a clever parody of this year’s most talked about racy novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, has been out-selling the original...
La Scala cancels Romeo and Juliet in the opening day of ballet season due to performers strike
Milan's famous La Scala theatre has cancelled the opening day of its ballet season due to a strike by performers. Chorus members in the production...
Casablanca piano sold at Sotheby’s auction for more than $600,000
The piano that features in the classic 1940s film Casablanca has been sold for more than $600,000 at Sotheby’s auction in New York. The upright...
The Tallow Candle, Hans Christian Andersen early work, found near writer’s home city
The Tallow Candle, an early work by Hans Christian Andersen, has been found at the bottom of a box near the Danish fairy tale...
Ravi Shankar dies in San Diego aged 92
Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar maestro, has died in a hospital in San Diego, aged 92. His family said he had been admitted to the Scripps...
Galina Vishnevskaya dies aged 86
Russian opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya, who performed soprano roles in opera classics, has died aged 86. In a career spanning 40 years, Galina Vishnevskaya joined...
What thinking about nothing looks like: Gustav Metzger hooks his brain up to a robot carving machine after empting his mind
What thinking about nothing looks like? Artist Gustav Metzger did wonder how his empty mind might appear if made corporeal. To find out he hooked himself...
Stolen 2,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx found near Rome
Italian police say they have recovered a stolen 2,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx near the capital Rome. They believe the granite statue was about to be taken...
Oscar Niemeyer, architect of the 20th Century’s most famous modernist buildings, dies aged 104
Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed some of the 20th Century's most famous modernist buildings, has died just before his 105th birthday. Oscar Niemeyer rose...
Top Ten Skyscrapers 2012: 8 Spruce Street wins this year Emporis Skyscraper Award
The top ten skyscrapers of the year were named yesterday with a stunning New York residential block taking top spot. Eight Spruce Street, in Manhattan,...
Dave Brubeck dies in Connecticut aged 91
Jazz legend and composer Dave Brubeck has died in Connecticut hospital, aged 91. The musician, whose recordings included Take Five and Blue Rondo a la...
Kennedy Center Honors 2012: Barack Obama honors seven of the most influential artists in US
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were in fine form during Sunday night’s Kennedy Center Honors, laughing and holding hands at the...
Leonardo Da Vinci’s lost copy of Battle of Anghiari found by Italian police
Italian specialist art theft police have tracked down and brought home a 400-year-old copy of a lost Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece - an incomplete...
Napoleon’s Kremlin letter sold at Paris auction for 15,000 euros
An 1812 letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte in which he vows to blow up the Kremlin has been sold at a Paris auction for...
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: the book that shook the Soviet Union
Alexander Solzhenitsyn's classic novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published 50 years ago this month. A short, simply-told tale about a...
Charlie Chaplin’s hat and cane sold for $62,500 at LA auction
Charlie Chaplin’s iconic hat and cane that accented his costume in Little Tramp has sold for $62,500 at an auction in Los Angeles. Bonhams Fine...
Kate Moss tattoo inked by Lucian Freud above her bottom
Kate Moss has revealed her supermodel body is quite literally a work of art – as she has a tattoo inked by Lucian Freud...
Judy Garland’s Wizard of Oz dress sold for $480,000
Judy Garland’s dress worn in the Wizard of Oz has sold for $480,000 at auction in Beverly Hills. The price for the blue and white...
Mick Jagger’s letter to Marsha Hunt go on auction in London
Mick Jagger’s handwritten love letters to his former lover Marsha Hunt will go on the auction in London next month. Marsha Hunt is an American-born...
Bridget Jones 3: Helen Fielding begins The Edge of Reason follow-up
Author Helen Fielding has begun work on a third Bridget Jones novel, 13 years after its predecessor. With a new film and a musical based...
Claude Monet’s water lilies painting Nympheas fetches $43.7 million at New York auction
One of Claude Monet's famous water lilies paintings has sold for $43.7 million at a New York auction. A painting by Wassily Kandinsky also sold...
New York Impressionist and Modern auctions to sell $1 billion worth of art
More than $1 billion worth of art will come under the hammer in New York's autumn art auctions, which start later. Highlights of the four...
Peruvian mummy stolen by Bolivian antiquities traffickers returns to Lima
Bolivia has returned a 700-year-old mummy to Peru, from where it was stolen by antiquities traffickers. The mummy of a child of about two years...
Composer Elliott Carter dies aged 103
American classical composer Elliott Carter has died at the age of 103. Known for his challenging and complex pieces, Elliott Carter won two Pulitzer Prizes...
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