Seven Film Festivals to Get Your Outdoors Fix This Winter

September 26, 2014, 6:51 am

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Now that we're officially into Autumn, it's time to plan for the darker days ahead and what treats are due. When it comes to thinking about snow or escaping to surf somewhere in the sun, outdoors films, festivals and tours provide a handy placebo.

Those living in North America and Europe are inundated with tours during the winter season, with most passing through London for at least one screening. Here are seven highlights, including selections from Canada, Californian snowboard legends and one homegrown festival that's become a real scene for the surf industry.



European Outdoor Film Tour (E.O.F.T.)
Hitting UK shores at the beginning of November, E.O.F.T. shows films from the world's best outdoors athletes and adventures. Major productions include all-female freeski movie 'Shades of Winter', climber Will Gadd's winter project on the icy Helmcken Falls in British Columbia and 'Frozen River', a story of four women and their attempt to kayak the 3000-kilometre Amur River in Mongolia.

Showing at the Royal Geographical Society on 1st and 2nd November. Full details of other tour dates can be found at eoft.eu.

REEL ROCK Tour
The REEL ROCK Tour is a juggernaut of a road trip, visiting over 75 cities in the total circuit. As the name suggests, this tour is all about climbing and will be celebrating its ninth edition with feature-length film 'Valley Uprising'. The film tracks the history of climbing in Yosemite and the counter culture the Valley has inspired within the 'extreme bohemian' lifestyle. Tales of red wine, boiled potatoes and clashes with National Park authorities do feature.

Screening on 20th and 21st October at Conway Hall, and Portobello Pop Up Cinema on 30th October. More information is available at reelrocktour.com.

Banff Mountain Film Festival
Similar to E.O.F.T., the Banff Mountain Film Festival covers films from a wide variety of alpine sports. Featured productions are selected during the actual Festival, held in Alberta's outdoors hub in November, after which they will make their way to 440 venues in over 40 countries during the entire tour - the largest reach of any outdoors film event.

On show at Union Chapel on 11th, 12th and 13th March. More information at banff-uk.com.

Ocean Film Festival
The Ocean Film Festival is already touring the UK with its near-tragic tales of novice rowers going astray on the Indian Ocean, and one paraplegic woman who discovered her lifelong dream to surf could be solved with a roll of duct tape. Other films from the deep blue follow professional freedivers, underwater museums and a friendship that develops between fishermen and a local whale shark.

London has been gifted one more screening, now at The Conway on 6th October. More information at oceanfilmfestival.co.uk.

Jeremy Jones' 'Higher'
When Teton Gravity Research team up with one of the most renowned snowboarders of all time, there's good reason to get your baggy clothes together and take time to sit back and appreciate. The main centrepiece for the film is of course Jeremy Jones, snowboarding veteran and one of the few athletes to have been able to keep up such great form during a career that spans nearly 20 years.

Showing in London on 28th October (location TBA). Keep an eye on tetongravity.com for tickets.

London Surf Film Festival
Held over four days in October, the LS/FF festival screens feature-length films from around the world. Among the list of premieres includes the story of Irish champion surfer Easkey Britton's visit to become the first woman to surf in Iran, and breaks and wakes off Alaska, Patagonia and New Hampshire. Another UK premiere, 'Stephanie in the Water', follows world champion surfer Stephanie Gilmore in an insightful documentary that reveals a darker side to life on the road.

Showing at The Genesis between the 9th and 12th of October. More information at londonsurffilmfestival.com

International Freeski Film Festival (iF3)
Coming to the UK for the first time, iF3 features freeski movies around a festival vibe. Its London showing in early October will include four films across three screens, athlete interviews and of course one of its notorious after-parties.

The single-day festival is on 2nd October, more details here: if3festival.com/fr/london.

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Protesters Win Fight as 'Human Zoo' Is Cancelled in London

September 26, 2014, 6:59 am

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I witnessed over 200 protesters claim victory as they gathered under the tunnels in Waterloo, London, where the Vault was forced to cancel the first showing of Brett Bailey's controversial Exhibit B performance which has been compared to the 19th Century, when black people were displayed in zoos to amuse European audiences.

The piece was due to run from the 23rd of September up until the 27th, but in a statement handed to protesters by the Vaults, an independent venue which had been hired by the Barbican, said:

"This evening's performance has been cancelled. Further subsequent performances up to and including Saturday 27 have also been cancelled".

Sara Myers who said Exhibit B is "racism masquerading as art", started a petition to boycott the piece that has reached over 22,000 signatures.

When I first heard about the exhibit, I wanted to know more about it and after being offered a guess pass I thought, why not? I wanted to see it for myself, I wanted to really understand why it was so terrible.

According to the Barbican, "Exhibit B critiques the 'human zoos' and ethnographic displays that showed Africans as objects of scientific curiosity through the 19th and early 20th centuries." They said the images "confront colonial atrocities committed in Africa, European notions of racial supremacy and the plight of immigrants today."

At the corner of Leake Street Road I could already hear the loud chants and drums of protesters at the entrance of the Vault, just over 100m away. Petition starter Sara Myers rallied her supporters that took to the entrance of the Vault with chants that echoed down the tunnels, "Barbican, Barbican shame on you, no more human zoo". As I got closer I noticed security as well as Police who were monitoring and trying to keep calm.


IMAGE COURTESY OF LONDON 360


With loud booing towards any member of the public that was entering, I was expecting mine to be the worst since I was the only black person to view the show for the first slot at 6.30 pm. I couldn't quite predict what was to happen next.

The boos heckled towards me as I went inside and after came a most uncomfortable feeling. I'm not sure if the feeling came from the eerie atmosphere in this underground-like dungeon or the smell of something gone off. A group of about a dozen of us stood waiting for the first viewing and after about 5 minutes of waiting, their seemed to be sudden commotion outside and all of us inside were rushed into a room, deeper into the building for safety.

The barriers outside that were holding protesters were breached and I briefly got to see some of them that had reached the entrance door before I was hurried along. With the Barbican workers believing the safety of those inside was compromised, they led us into a kind of "waiting area". We could all still hear the pounding voices of the protesters outside.

The audience and staff that surrounded me seemed quite fearful with one lady saying, "This is worrying" and another stating, "I don't know why this is happening, it was greatly received in Edinburgh".

An assistant for the night ran in asking for any "Strong Men" to help at the front doors and of course at this point all of us present couldn't imagine what was happening outside. With the protesting only getting more and more spurred up, the Barbican decided to cancel the show. A spokesperson for the Barbican said:

"Due to the extreme nature of the protest outside the Vaults, regrettably we have cancelled this evening's performance of Exhibit B as we could not guarantee the safety of performers, audiences and staff.

"We respect people's right to protest but are disappointed that this was not done in a peaceful way as had been previously promised by campaigners."

As I started to walk back to where the protesters had gathered I heard police sirens and saw police vans turning into Leake Road, where the Vault was situated. The crowd cheered as a sign was brought out stating the cancellation and protesters began to retreat.

British Transport Police and additional Metropolitan Police units were called to calm protesters to aid in calming the crowd that to be honest were already retreating away from the entrance.


IMAGE COURTESY OF LONDON 360


A man that seemed quite angry walking away from the protesters came up to me and said:
"If he was black it would be okay" and pointing towards the crowd of protesters he said, "they are the f*****g racists". I beg to differ and believe a black person would not put on a show similar to this as they would have a completely different perspective to the artist Brett Bailey.

With a cancelled show, I doubt I will be able to see it for myself and confirm my own judgments on how Brett Bailey could have portrayed this message differently. What I do want to see is the black community unified in society as they were at the protests yesterday, supporting each other.

We want to see more of the triumphs through the slavery period and that can happen by people of African-origin telling their own narrative. We need to stop throwing so much abuse at others and throw support to each other if we want to see a change.

Publishing in the Future or the Rise of Independent Authors

September 26, 2014, 7:10 am

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Publishing of tomorrow will be different due to the rise of independent authors, who write and publish their books in more formats, for more audiences and through more channels than ever before. We can see this future already in markets which leave the age of printing books fast to switch to electronic and increasingly mobile books - like China, South Korea or Indonesia. Europe will follow and we should be prepared for the changes. As authors, as publishers or as readers.

Since I joined the publishing world in 2005 a democratization of publishing has taken place, with non-traditional forms of publishing competing for the limited reader´s attention, and I find it gratifying to help texts to find new readers. When I worked for Random House as Director Business Development we were embracing new forms of online and social media marketing and worked to get in direct contact with the readers. The advent of better eInk-devices in 2007 in the US allowed the fledgling markets for ebooks to start growing and we focused first to convert our catalogue of great titles into the new format to be ready for the start of the German market. It took a lot of faith to invest so early in this still small market, to convince the authors to trust us with their electronic publication rights and convert the titles into the new formats.

But it was the right decision, in a couple of years ebooks will overtake print, something not many would have predicted only a short while ago. We saw that growing market and decided to help developing it further and in 2010 Skoobe was conceived, a joint venture of two of Germany´s biggest media companies, Bertelsmann and Holtzbrink to offer a book-flatrate similar to the Netflix-model for movies in the US. Skoobe has since garnered more than one million downloads, a very active user base and 7.942 ratings in Google Play and Apple iTunes with an average of 4.5 out of five stars. We predicted the rise of mobile and tablets for longform reading and the readers love a monthly flatrate and read as much as they want. As CEO of Skoobe my biggest learning came from negotiating with the traditional publishers and try to convince them of the feasibility of the business model and its effect for booksales. Now more than 1.000 imprints have agreed to participate, but there was and still is a lot of skepticism regarding new models and change in general.

There were many other learnings, especially through the close interaction with the readers. We realized that books do not only compete with other books anymore, but with all other forms of entertainment, especially on mobile devices. Hence it is crucial to make a large selection available so that everybody can find the right books and do not spend their time on Facebook or other new media platforms. Skoobe-members read more and spent more time with books, they even buy more ebooks and printbooks. Because the mobile phone offers immediate access to more than 50.000 titles more in-between time is spent reading than traditionally.

Now, as CEO of Open Publishing I'm trying to open the world of publishing to more authors across all genres. Authors, literary agents or translators can publish with us and can get as much help as necessary for their books.

With Open Publishing we are combining the strength of three business units:
1. The knowledge gained from our own imprints, starting with our origin as academic self publishing platform at grin.com, where we have published 157.502 ebooks from more than 60.000 authors.

2. The experience and creativity of our digital advertising and marketing agency bilandia, which is consulting the top tier of publishers and creating wonderful campaigns for individual titles.

3. The technical competence and features of our proprietary software and services solution, that serves Germany´s largest digital first imprint dotbooks and authors and publishers such as Wolfgang Farkas, Zoe Beck and many others to realize their own imprint and publish their own titles.

We have modulized the digital publication process and offer ebook production, distribution, marketing or automated author royalty-payments - individually or combined.

Why are we doing this? We believe, that the electronic books is actually better than any printed edition, because it is inherently more affordable, more portable and can be individualized to be read in the font size and font type the reader suits best. On top of that our clients at Open Publishing are no longer constrained by distribution and printing bottlenecks. With this new technology, authors and small publishers can publish on an equal footing with traditional publishers. Screens are the new paper, as you see every day in every bus or train in any larger city.

For readers it was never easier to sample a new ebook for free and making your buying decision on the fly with the help of thousands of fellow readers, who have been kind enough to leave their impression of the book and rate it for you. It is even possible to share the highlights on social networks or with your friends. The text is interactive by pressing a word that is unclear the connected device immediately gets to the wisdom of dictionaries, wikipedia or search the whole world wide web.

The sheer mass of books accessible online surpasses the biggest bookstore by far and self publishing authors are able to react and work together with their audiences to improve upon their works. They can charge lower prices, but because they are bypassing middlemen, they still receive a higher share per sale compared to working with a publishing house. They can use networks like Open Publishing to outsource any of the customary publishing processes, e. g. editing, cover design or ebook production.

Self-Publishing is here to stay and become a valid option for all writers. We believe, that in the next couple of years, ebooks will overtake print and reading books will become a lot more affordable, disseminate from high-income countries and prices to lower prices to reach readers globally. One of the bigger markets for Wattpad, a mobile writing and reading platform based near Toronto, is Indonesia. With the advent of mobile books, the easiness of access, selection and affordability of reading great stories has never been greater. Book buyers are price sensitive, and independently published books are on average 50% cheaper. More sold units out there mean that more readers will know about the authors and maybe try their next title. In 2014 for the first time in Germany the Top-20 E-Books were all from Self-Publishers.

Marketing is changing as well, and to quote Robert Bidinotto: „Social media has been the great equalizer of advertising, promotion and marketing. This is essentially asymmetrical warfare. No customer going to Amazon knows what is traditionally published or independently published - and they don't care". The good news is, that the creativity of authors is even enhanced when unleashed from the traditional, slow and expensive publishing process and the readers can expect more great novels than ever before. Please contact me if you are an independent author, we will help you reach more readers more profitably.

The Frankfurt Book Fair Business Club

Launched in 2014, the Business Club offers its members a comprehensive variety of services and a brand new way to experience the Frankfurt Book Fair. With its flexible range of conferences, consultation sessions, networking formats and lounges, the Business Club offers inspiration, guidance and a space where new business ideas can flourish. The day ticket costs 490 euros plus VAT, and is valid for all the events on that particular day. A week-long ticket costs 990 euros plus VAT; this covers entrance to all the conferences and the full programme of the Business Club. For more information about the programme and the speakers, please visit: http://www.book-fair.com/businessclub

Billy Connolly Hadn't Told Anyone About His Cancer Before It Turned Up In Script For 'What We Did On Our Holiday' (INTERVIEW)

September 26, 2014, 7:12 am

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The first time Billy Connolly revealed his cancer to anyone outside his own family was to a young actress with the moment caught on camera.

The comedy star revealed that it was in the script for ‘What We Did On Holiday’ that his character would break the news to his screen grand-daughter, and it was “a strangely beautiful moment for me”.


Billy Connolly had kept his cancer from the film crew, when he had to say i

“It was the first time I’d told anybody outside my nearest and dearest,” he tells HuffPostUK.

“It was very strange. I hadn’t told the filmmakers, and in the script I was telling my grand-daughter, it’s okay to lie, and there I was, telling the truth without them realising.”

Billy’s role as grandfather Gordy McLeod in the comedy-drama starring David Tennant, from the writers of sitcom ‘Outnumbered’ and set in the beautiful Scottish highlands, sees the adults getting themselves in a right old mess, while the children are left to make sense of it all, something Billy agrees is all too real…

“Adults seem to come up with these strange sets of rules that they’ve concocted in private,” he says in his distinctive, extended-vowel brogue.


Billy says he particularly enjoyed acting with the children on the set of 'What We Did On Holiday'

“I remember driving with my children behind me in the car, and I was berating them, telling them they had to be careful. I looked in the mirror and they were all mouthing silently, ‘because the kitchen’s the most dangerous room in the house.’ Blah blah.” He chuckles away…

Billy has spoken movingly of the recent loss of his great friend Robin Williams, and explains here, too, how Robin was keen to express his love for him in the weeks leading up to his death.

“It was only afterwards I said that to my wife, and she said, ‘He was probably saying goodbye.’”


Billy with his great friend Robin Williams - "he's left such a big hole"

Is there any lesson at all we can draw from this tragic turn of events?

“I’m afraid he’s left such a big hole that I can’t think of anything constructive to say,” says Billy sadly. “He was a wonderful, wonderful person. It was a privilege to spend time with him.”

Despite this, and despite his own health problems (Billy was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a condition he shared with Robin Williams), Billy and his character Gordy in the film share an unmistakable twinkle in the eye, a chuckle in the throat, a way of looking at the world with pleasure undimmed. Is there a secret?

“If there is, it’s a very simple one,” he replies. “It’s really not to take yourself too seriously. There are plenty of things we should take seriously, but not ourselves. Never ourselves.”

'What We Did On Our Holiday' is in UK cinemas from today. Watch the trailer above...

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Sir Peter Blake - Still Pushing the Boundaries of Pop Art

September 26, 2014, 7:16 am

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You might think that at the age of 82, Sir Peter Blake might be content to pack away his drawing board, put his feet up and look back on a glittering career. After all, it was 60 years ago that he first began taking images from popular culture and designating them as art.

He, as a lone figure at the Royal Academy of Art in the mid-1950s, along with American artists such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, and fellow Brits Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi and other members of the Independent Group at the ICA in London, were the originators of the Pop Art movement.

But Blake is entertaining no thoughts of retirement. In fact, the past few years alone have seen him designing fabrics for Stella McCartney, jackets for Penguin books, record covers for such as Oasis, Brian Wilson and Paul Weller, a portrait of The Queen for the Radio Times, a painting for St Paul's Cathedral and illustrations inspired by Under Milk Wood for an exhibition in Cardiff. To name but a few.

I caught up with him at CCA Galleries International's exhibition, Jersey Bounce, in the Georgian grandeur of the transformed Royal Court House in the Jersey capital, St Helier.



The show is a mix of old favourites, re-workings and new prints. His 100 Sources of Pop Art (above), for example, is a self-explanatory never seen before print that includes among the Warhols, Liechtensteins, Hendersons some of his own images. The use of bright, primary colours exudes a sense of joy and optimism that defines his contribution to the movement.

"This picture idea started as two quite small ones and I went to seven and then decided that was enough", he explained. "Then last year I drew one which was 100 and that seals it forever. I'll never do another one."



One of the features of Pop Art is taking everyday objects and changing their context. Among a series at the show entitled Found Art, is 5d per Lb (above) an image of the sort of sign you might have seen everyday in a 1960s greengrocers.

But by scanning it and having it blown up in high definition, it achieves two things. First, it becomes akin to an abstract painting and secondly, as Blake enthuses, it achieves more clarity.

"The technology is such that what I find really exciting is the bigger you go, the clearer the image becomes. You're seeing things you couldn't see on the small scale... The excitement is an object like this is very beautiful and to make it large you discover something else."

In a similar way, he has taken a photograph of Marilyn Monroe, a favourite icon, blown it up and added diamond dust to give it extra sparkle, thereby enhancing the original. He's performed the same idea with old postcards of Lily Langtree, the Jersey Lily, in deference to the exhibition's location.

Blake is a magpie. Part of the fun he gets from his work is accumulating the ephemera required. For a work entitled Matchboxes for example, he found a man at a car boot sale selling suitcases full of all manner of different brands of matchboxes. When he asked the man how much he wanted for them, the reply was he could have them for free but it'll be a fiver for the suitcase.

It's a similar story for his collages. His most famous was for the cover of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album which made Peter Blake a household name. In fact, one of the pictures in Jersey Bounce is an updated version of it featuring images of his own friends and heroes.



For a new work, the collage Aquarium Large (above), a re-working of an older piece, he turned once again to the fruits of a car boot sale. He'd picked up a set of 12 Larousse encyclopaedias on animal life.

"It's in French, it's useless, so I thought shall I cut it up? And once I did, tons of material came from them."

The work has three aspects - the diversity of fish, the toys such as the ships you see that are put into aquariums, and the people who come to view.

Using images from popular culture in the 1950s was pushing the boundaries of art, creating a debate about whether there should be "low" or "high" culture. Within the context of Pop Art itself, Blake has always tried to extend its scope.

One early piece, Four Preps, for example, he introduced sound into painting by including a disc with the idea that you played the record and then read the list of people illustrated in the work.

Decades later, he is using technological advances to help push the boundaries by including a new series of 3-D printed works, produced by the Coriander Studio fine art printers, of childhood toys and implements under the title Wooden Puzzle Series.

"I have two mottos in my life", he tells me. "One I used when I divorced my first wife is 'Living well is the best revenge'. The other is 'Stay ahead of the avant-garde'."

Jersey Bounce is at CCA Galleries International, Royal Court Chambers, 10 Hill Street, St Helier JE2 4UA until 31st October 2014.

The images are used with the permission of the artist and gallery.

Stunning Anselm Kiefer Exhibition at Royal Academy

September 26, 2014, 7:17 am

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Anselm Kiefer is widely considered to be the most influential artist working today. However he is not a household name. With this in mind, this new exhibition at the Royal Academy succeeds in not only showcasing a broad range of Kiefer's extraordinary work, but also in bringing much depth and context to the pieces on show.

This is the first retrospective of Kiefer's work ever in the UK and the galleries are filled with his huge canvases from across his 40 year career to date. The canvases are vast, often covering an entire wall, and include just about every element going whether it's paint, lead, diamonds or sunflowers.

But it's the content, the premise of Kiefer's work that gives it its power. For Kiefer was born in Germany in 1945 and this location and timing is everything when examining Kiefer's art.

The shadow of Nazism loomed large over post-war Germany, its bloody legacy incredibly hard for Germans to come to terms with. In Kiefer's eyes, this had developed into a worrying culture of silence, fear and denial. Kiefer was fascinated by this collective absence of memory and was driven to address this head on.

Much of Kiefer's early work is explicit in this. In the Heroic Symbols series and his Occupation books, Kiefer incorporates figures in German army uniform giving the Nazi salute, an act that was banned in post-war Germany. The expected outcry and accusations of Nazi sympathy happened but this was more than just being deliberately provocative for the sake of attention.

Censorship is always a red flag to an artist and the fact that these subjects were considered verboten angered Kiefer but his work also perfectly demonstrated how this complicity of silence ensured that these acts, and therefore Nazism, retained a power, a hold over people.




Kiefer's work was also an attempt to reclaim the artistic space that had been occupied by the Third Reich, who exploited art and artists for propaganda purposes.

Kiefer's later works have much variety and depth - he worked on interiors and landscapes and examined themes such as man's place in the world, the legacy of history and mythology, and even the universe itself - but Nazism remained a reoccurring subject.

A favourite of mine is Varus, 1976, a beautiful oil on canvas of a picturesque German forest covered with snow. A traditional winter scene in a traditional German forest, but the snow is spattered with blood and the trunks of the trees seem to be bleeding.

The title of the painting refers to the legend of Varus, the Roman general who was defeated by Arminius in the German forests in AD9. So far, so simple. But Arminius is a German legend and his reputation was used and manipulated by the Third Reich as part of their appropriation of German heroes to exalt National Socialism. Further, snow and ice are often used as metaphors for the Holocaust.

A similar approach comes up again 30 years later in Black Flakes (Schwarze Flocken), 2006, an oil on canvas of a ploughed, furrowed snow-covered field, with the barbed wire a haunting reminder of the camps.





Kiefer's canvases are truly extraordinary. They contain within them such power, such emotion, that it's hard not to be moved by them. They are so vast, literally and metaphorically, that they often require time and contemplation. Sadly the RA hasn't provided sufficient benches in the galleries to facilitate this in comfort so wear comfortable shoes!

But for all the power and politics, there is a versatility in Kiefer's work that the scale of the exhibition really brings out.

Kiefer has created a new installation for this show, Ages of the World, 2014. This piece is a towering pile of discarded objects, such as wood and large sunflowers, and it consumes the room in which it is displayed. Part totem, part funeral pyre, the piece examines the relationship of ruins and the ongoing pattern and cyclical nature of time.

The piece reminded me of Phyllida Barlow's current installation in Tate Britain in the way that the structures of discarded materials assembled together in a rather undefined way is an interesting juxtaposition with the classical elegance of the Royal Academy's interior design.

Kiefer also brings out his dreamy, romantic side in a series of large lead sheets that he has scattered with diamonds, which he has set into the materials. They sparkle like bright stars in the night sky.

Yet for all the emotion in Kiefer's work, it's hard to ignore the technical excellence. Whether it's interiors or exteriors, bricked mausoleums or wooden floorboards, his execution is faultless.




And his compositions are fascinating, whether it's simply in the perspective taken or in the occasionally surreal merging of objects, such as a floating suspended human head in a German forest in Head in the Forest, or the three vacant seats representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost hovering above a planned Nazi naval attack against Britain in Operation Sea Lion, 1975.

But such is the texture and scale in Kiefer's work that no flat image could possibly do it justice. This exhibition is a definite go-see as it's crucial you see these works for yourself so you can take it all in. It's an exhilarating, passionate exhibition that needs to be seen and felt in person.

And please do not be put off if you know little or indeed nothing about Anselm Kiefer. This is a superbly curated exhibition. The pieces are hung in chronological order and there is much explanation and context given in each room to outline the pieces and what Kiefer was exploring at that time.

Royal Academy of Arts, London to December 14, 2014

Admission £15.50 (concessions available)

Sponsored by BNP Paribas



Image credits:

1. Anselm Kiefer Interior (Innenraum), 1981 Oil, acrylic, and paper on canvas, 287.5 x 311 cm Collection Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam Photo Collection Stedelijk Museum / copyright Anselm Kiefer

2. Anselm Kiefer Heroic Symbol V (Heroisches Sinnbild V), 1970 Oil on canvas, 150 x 260.5 cm Collection Wuerth Photo Collection Wuerth / copyright Anselm Kiefer

3. Anselm Kiefer Winter Landscape (Winterlandschaft), 1970 Watercolour, gouache, and graphite pencil on paper, 42.9 x 35.6 cm Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Denise and Andrew Saul Fund, 1995 (1995.14.5) Photo copyright 2014. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence / copyright Anselm Kiefer

4. Anselm Kiefer Black Flakes (Schwarze Flocken), 2006 Oil, emulsion, acrylic, charcoal, lead books, branches and plaster on canvas, 330 x 570 cm Private collection, c/o Museum Kueppersmuehle fuer Moderne Kunst Photo Privatbesitz Famille Grothe / copyright Anselm Kiefer

Make Some Noise with Alfie Boe & Katherine Jenkins

September 26, 2014, 7:24 am

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In news released yesterday, Alfie Boe has joined forces with Katherine Jenkins to be part of the Make Some Noise charity single. Alfie and Katherine will both sing solos alongside Alexander Armstrong and Aled Jones with other big names still to be released. The single which will be recorded at the AIR studios on 9th October and released the following day, will also feature Sol3Mio and Laura Wright. Laura has toured with Alfie in the past while Sol3Mio will join Alfie on his forthcoming UK arena tour at the end of the year. Fans can get a taste of what to expect from that liaison from the Classic FM live concert which will be broadcast on Saturday 27 September.

In addition, the single a number of big names will feature: Myleene Klass on piano, classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic and Classic FM presenters Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen (percussion) and John Suchet (trombone). Howard Goodall, pictured below with Katherine Jenkins and John Suchet, will write the single.



Julian Reynolds will conduct and the single will be produced by the royal wedding album producer, Anna Barry.

Make Some Noise is a new charity for 2014, set up to help children and young people around the UK that are disadvantaged by lack of opportunity, disability, illness or bereavement. Click here to find out more.

This latest charitable project joins Alfie Boe's rather crowded charity family; so far this year he has lent his name to the Royal Marsden's Big C Appeal and has appeared at charity fundraisers for amongst others, Elton John's AIDS Foundation, the Caudwell Children's Butterfly Ball, The Children's Center Utah and Symfunny, which raised money and awareness for Early Onset Parkinson's Disease. In addition, he found time to design a pair of pants for the MAD Trust online pants auction and to continue his support for Nordoff Robbins with his now annual birthday appeal.

A version of this article originally appeared on www.thoughtsofjustafan.com.

George Clooney's Wedding: 9 Things We Know About Amal Alamuddin And George's Venice Ceremony

September 26, 2014, 7:55 am

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Preparations are well under way in Venice ahead of George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin’s wedding, which is expected to take place on Saturday.

Since George revealed the location of his wedding a few weeks ago, plenty more facts have come to light, however, there are still plenty of facts left to be filled in.


George and Amal have arrived in Venice

Are Brad and Ange going to attend? Will we get to see Amal’s gown?

One thing’s for sure - Kimye's swish Florence bash is about to be well and truly overshadowed.

Ahead of the couple's big day, let's take a look at everything we DO know about the wedding below…

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Five Ways to Look at Malevich's Black Square

September 26, 2014, 8:55 am

≫ Next: Kelly Brook And Fiancé David McIntosh Split: Star Confirms On Twitter She's Ended Engagement To 'Celebrity Big Brother' Housemate

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By Susan Holtham and Fiontan Moran

So, what is the big deal about Malevich's Black Square? You may have heard about it having 'mystical ways' or swear you saw it referenced on an album cover (either that or it's following you, wherever you look), but what is it all about? To help you get to grips with the monochrome modern masterpiece, we caught up with the assistant curator of our major Malevich retrospective, Fiontan Moran, to shed some light on the famous artwork and find out just why the humble square is now so important.





Kazimir Malevich, Black Square 1913, © State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

1. It is the first time someone made a painting that wasn't of something

Or at least it's often held to be so, and the Kiev-born artist Kazimir Malevich certainly thought it was (though the dispute rages on). He wrote in a handout to accompany its first showing in the exhibition The Last Exhibition of Futurist Painting 0. 10:

Up until now there were no attempts at painting as such, without any attribute of real life...Painting was the aesthetic side of a thing, but never was original and an end in itself.

He made his intention clear; he wanted to completely abandon depicting reality and instead invent a new world of shapes and forms that belonged exclusively in the realm of art for art's sake. In his 1927 book The Non-Objective World, he wrote:

In the year 1913, trying desperately to free art from the dead weight of the real world, I took refuge in the form of the square.

Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935), Sketch for a stage curtain for the opera Victory Over the Sun, 1928. Photograph: St. Petersburg Museum of Theater and Music

2. It began life as a stage curtain

The first Black Square (Malevich actually painted not one, but four versions between 1915 and 1930) was (we believe) painted in 1915, although Malevich actually dated it 1913 - maybe with an eye to his legacy as the father of abstraction. In any case, the square's first appearance was indeed in 1913, as the design for a stage curtain in the futurist opera Victory over the Sun.

Malevich had been collaborating with the musician Mikhail Matyushin and the poet Aleksei Kruchenykh on a manifesto calling for the rejection of rational thought (another facet of overturning the established hierarchies of absolutely everything that was taking place in the western world at the time). Together with poet Velimier Khlebnikov they staged Victory over the Sun, where the characters aimed to overturn reason by capturing the sun and destroying time. The libretto used Kruchenykh's zaum - a new language of sounds unrelated to meaning. This sparked something for Malevich as curator Achim Borchardt-Hume puts it: 'Malevich, infused with the spirit of his friend's linguistic experiments, invented at breath-taking speed a new painterly language made up solely from shapes and colours. He called this language suprematism'. The opera opened up new ideas about what art could be, which brings us to...




Kazimir Malevich, Dynamic Suprematism 1915 or 1916, oil on canvas. Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1978

3. It's a revolutionary symbol

So what is exactly is suprematism? Created by Malevich, it's all about the supremacy of colour in painting. He took geometric shapes and a limited palette of colours and created a specific focus on the painted form and colour existing on the canvas purely as paint, not representing a scene or a landscape or a person.

However, the Black Square is not just the first painting in a new movement, it's a totally different kind of object to what had gone before. Malevich promoted it as a sign of a new era of art and he saw it as beginning at zero, that's what the 0.10 of the exhibition title pays reference to. (However, of course it's never that simple - his journey to this point was cleverly constructed. Though he declared the Black Square the first suprematist painting, x-rays show a multi-coloured suprematist composition underneath).

When he premiered the Black Square the world was going up in smoke - it was in the middle of the First World War, following the 1905 Russian revolution, and the continuing unrest that just a few years later in 1917 would explode into the Bolshevik uprising and October Revolution. The Black Square arrived at a time when Russian art crowds, although used to seeing cubist and futurist works, would never have seen a work like this. Bearing this turbulent time in mind, it seems difficult to think of the artistic revolution Malevich was bringing about as separate from the social revolution that was happening. Malevich didn't intend for the Black Square to be a representation of a real thing, but a sign of a dawn of new age.




Malevich at Tate Modern, © Tate. Photo: Olivia Hemingway

4. It was the first icon that wasn't, well, an icon

When Malevich unveiled the Black Square at the The Last Exhibition of Futurist Painting 0. 10, held in the newly-named Petrograd in December 1915, he was keen to showcase suprematism, his new idea, and the Black Square was placed high up on the wall across the corner of the room. Though this position might mean nothing to the average non-Russian viewer today, it was the same sacred spot that a Russian Orthodox icon of a saint would sit in a traditional Russian home - and this likeness wasn't lost on people in Petrograd. Malevich wanted to show the Black Square to be of a special or spiritual significance, make it the star of the show and the overriding emblem of his new style.

The Black Square did become his motif, even his logo or trademark. Even in his later work, when he made a return to figurative paintings (often of peasants and workers) you can see he signed a many of them with a little black square. At his funeral the car carrying his body had a Black Square on the front, mourners held flags decorated with black squares, one was fixed above his suprematist-style student designed coffin, and it went on to mark his grave. It became not only an icon of his style, but an icon of twentieth century art.

But, with all that in mind, if you're still in the dark...




Gillian Carnegie, Black Square 2008, oil on canvas. Presented by Tate Members 2010 © Gillian Carnegie

5. There's no 'right' way to look at it

Within months of Malevich's death in 1935, his work disappeared from public view and Stalin's state-sponsored social realism was adopted as the 'official art' of Soviet Russia. The Black Square wasn't exhibited again until the 1980s. It became an icon that couldn't be seen by many and so the idea of it remained like an almost mythical presence, and still continues to inspire and challenge artists and designers today. Yet because the square is obviously an average object, when you work with it, you can start to see it in different ways or think about how very simple objects can stand for certain ideas.

When it was exhibited people found it a strange thing and people still find it a strange object today. There's no wrong or right way to look at it; you could say it looks like a window into the night, or you could say it is just a black shape on a white canvas, (which is more of what Malevich was intending...) but it's like a very simple gesture. Malevich set out to forever change the idea of painting to represent reality, and its intriguing to think how doing something simple or even seemingly dull, can sometimes be revolutionary; that's what makes the Black Square a radical thing, however you look at it.

Malevich is at Tate Modern until 26 October

This post originally appeared on the Tate blog

Kelly Brook And Fiancé David McIntosh Split: Star Confirms On Twitter She's Ended Engagement To 'Celebrity Big Brother' Housemate

September 27, 2014, 1:10 am

≫ Next: 'Strictly Come Dancing': 'EastEnders' Actor Jake Wood's 'Toxic' Tango Earns Him Top Marks From Judges, But Scott Mills Is Not So Lucky

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Kelly Brook has announced that she and fiancé David McIntosh have split up.

The pair became engaged earlier this year, but Kelly has now confirmed that the pair have decided to end their relationship after less than a year together.


Kelly Brook and David McIntosh

Taking to her Twitter page on Friday night, the model and TV personality wrote:

It's a sad Day but I wanted to share with you that David and I are no longer engaged. I love and respect him and wish him all the best.

— Kelly Brook (@IAMKELLYBROOK) September 26, 2014

Later that night, she followed this with an optimistic tweet about the future, adding:

Positive changes- Good people -Happy Life- Creative Work.

— Kelly Brook (@IAMKELLYBROOK) September 26, 2014

David, meanwhile, has remained silent on social media since the news broke which - let’s face it - is pretty out of character.

The couple first revealed that they were getting married via an Instagram photo back in April, following a whirlwind 11-week romance.

Kelly did recently admit to having cold feet about tieing the knot with the hunky former ‘Gladiator’, telling The Sun earlier this month: “Sometimes I just get a bit cynical and go, ‘Oh, is this really The One?’ I don’t know.”

However, their split still appears to have come out of nowhere, with Kelly even revealing in a recent interview that she was hoping to start a family sooner rather than later.

The couple had originally been planning to get married this month, but had to postpone what she described as their ‘Big Fat Wigan Wedding’ due to David’s “work commitments”, which was later revealed to be a short-lived stint in the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house.

Over the course of their relationship, David has been accused on a number of occasions of using Kelly to heighten his own celebrity status, with former ‘Big Brother’ housemate Chanelle Hayes - who he once took on a date to Pizza Hut - describing him as a “fame-hungry scrounger”.

David, on the other hand, has always maintained that this was not the case, branding the claims “ridiculous” and saying: “I mean, have you seen this lady?

“She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s kind - she’s got it all. I could understand someone saying that if I was with some 60-year-old woman, but to me, it just makes zero sense.”

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'Strictly Come Dancing': 'EastEnders' Actor Jake Wood's 'Toxic' Tango Earns Him Top Marks From Judges, But Scott Mills Is Not So Lucky

September 27, 2014, 1:53 am

≫ Next: Lauren Goodger's New Music Inspired By Jennifer Lopez, Former 'TOWIE' Star Compares Upcoming Single To 'Booty' Singer

≪ Previous: Kelly Brook And Fiancé David McIntosh Split: Star Confirms On Twitter She's Ended Engagement To 'Celebrity Big Brother' Housemate

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We’ll admit that we were slightly tickled when we heard earlier this week that ‘EastEnders’ actor Jake Wood would be making his ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ debut with a tango set to a Britney Spears classic.

However, we are now practically full up from eating our words, after he stormed to the top of the leaderboard on Friday night with his performance.


Max Branning, er, we mean Jake Wood, performing a tango

We were surprised to see just what a great dancer Jake - who we’re used to seeing play hardman Max Branning on ‘EastEnders’ - actually is, with his ‘Toxic’ tango bagging him some great responses from the judges and the highest score on the first live shows of the series.

He was just one point ahead of pop princess Pixie Lott, who also proved herself worthy of her title as the bookies’ favourite to win the series, dancing up a storm with her cha cha to Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’.


Pixie Lott

Unfortunately, the news wasn’t so good for Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, whose own cha cha routine earned him just 16 points from the judging panel.

Ouch.

Scott had previously told us, ahead of the series launch, that he was worried he might have “cursed” himself, after each of the acts he endorsed on his radio show during last year’s series would always be sent packing the following week.

He joked: “I backed Deborah Meaden and then she went out, then I backed Rachel Riley and then she went out, and then Susanna Reid… so that didn’t go well. So I was the curse of ‘Strictly’ last year.

“I hope it hasn’t continued onto me. I can’t really back myself, so I should be alright.”

Tune into ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ on Saturday, 27 September at 7pm to see the next bunch of celebrities hit the dance floor for the first time.

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Lauren Goodger's New Music Inspired By Jennifer Lopez, Former 'TOWIE' Star Compares Upcoming Single To 'Booty' Singer

September 27, 2014, 2:42 am

≫ Next: 'The X Factor' Review: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini Sends Chloe Jasmine Packing In Six Chair Challenge... Then Changes Her Mind At The Last Minute (PICS, VIDEO)

≪ Previous: 'Strictly Come Dancing': 'EastEnders' Actor Jake Wood's 'Toxic' Tango Earns Him Top Marks From Judges, But Scott Mills Is Not So Lucky

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Lauren Goodger says she’s taking inspiration from Jennifer Lopez for her forthcoming music career.

We have to be honest, we thought that much was obvious already. J-Lo and The Goodge - have two more similar women ever existed?

The former ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ housemate and Queen of Brentwood had been working on her debut single in Los Angeles earlier this year, but recently told fans that she’d scrapped the song she’d recorded over a dispute with her record label.


Lauren Goodger

Writing in her most recent New! magazine column, Lauren explained: “I've ditched the single I recorded because it started getting messy with the label so I want to record something new and be in control.”

Thankfully, our girl isn’t wasting any time in getting back into the studio, and has now teased fans with what they can expect from her forthcoming release.

She told Heat: “I will be in the studio soon doing something new, I am so excited so it will be all good.

“I’m very R&B! I don’t like house music. I write my music, it’s very like Ashanti, like Jennifer Lopez kind of stuff so it’s very current, very American.”


Jennifer Lopez

Hopefully the accompanying music video will be every bit as eye-opening as J-Lo’s most recent output for her Iggy Azalea collaboration ‘Booty’.

We’re sure Pitbull is standing by to record his guest rap…

When she isn’t throwing down sick beats in the studio or flogging her range of false eyelashes and fake tan, Lauren can be found dishing out her sage advice to fellow celebrities, most recently publicly reaching out to Olympic gymnast Louis Smith over his recent sex tape scandal.

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'The X Factor' Review: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini Sends Chloe Jasmine Packing In Six Chair Challenge... Then Changes Her Mind At The Last Minute (PICS, VIDEO)

September 27, 2014, 3:30 am

≫ Next: George Clooney Wedding: Actor Arrives At Venice's Canal Grande Hotel Where He Will Reportedly Marry Amal Alamuddin (PICS)

≪ Previous: Lauren Goodger's New Music Inspired By Jennifer Lopez, Former 'TOWIE' Star Compares Upcoming Single To 'Booty' Singer

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Cheryl Fernandez-Versini made some controversial decisions during Friday night’s first instalment of ‘X Factor’ boot camp, most notably when she decided to bring back auditionee Chloe Jasmine right at the last minute.

It was an explosive night for ‘The X Factor’, which saw the judges finding out which category they were mentoring, Cheryl showing off her competitive side and telling Mel B their “friendship” was out the window and - most shockingly of all - Dermot O’Leary actually speaking for what felt like the first time this series.


Chloe Jasmine performs 'I Want It That Way'

However, the big moment of the night came during the “six chair challenge” when Chezza did a Chloe switch-a-roo, and cast aside Chloe Jasmine - who had bagged her seat after her *ahem* “unique” take on the Backstreet Boys hit ‘I Want It That Way’ - in favour of Chloe O’Gorman, much to the shock of Simon Cowell and Mel B.

After the angry crowds put the “boo” in “boot camp” - and Cheryl told them their booing had affected her so badly she thought she was going to “throw up” - she admitted she’d made a big mistake and, after deciding on her final six, caused shockwaves when she revealed she wanted Chloe Jasmine to return to the stage.


As you can see, Cheryl was having a great time at Boot Camp

The Geordie judge then admitted she’d made a “huge mistake”, telling Chloe: “I want versatility in my group going forward. If I had six girls who all represented the same thing, it would be boring.

“I want somebody that can do something different each week, you have that for me, and I'm missing that when I look up there.”

This unfortunately meant that Orla Keogh lost her place at judges houses, with Mel B telling the Irish singer backstage that she had been totally against Cheryl’s decision.


Chloe consoles Orla

Chloe will be joining five other hopefuls, including fish-monger Lola Saunders (whose performance was once again scuppered by her nerves) and 15-year-old Emily Middlemas at judges houses, where Cheryl will narrow them down to three acts with the help of her 'Crazy Stupid Love' collaborator Tinie Tempah.

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George Clooney Wedding: Actor Arrives At Venice's Canal Grande Hotel Where He Will Reportedly Marry Amal Alamuddin (PICS)

September 27, 2014, 11:49 am

≫ Next: ‘Emmerdale' Spoiler: Debbie's Left Shocked After Pete's Night At Leyla's (PICS)

≪ Previous: 'The X Factor' Review: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini Sends Chloe Jasmine Packing In Six Chair Challenge... Then Changes Her Mind At The Last Minute (PICS, VIDEO)

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George Clooney has been photographed arriving at Aman Canal Grande Hotel in black tie, where it’s thought he’s about to tie the knot with Amal Alamuddin.

9 Things We Already Know About George Clooney And Amal Alamuddin's Wedding

The actor revealed he was waving goodbye to the bachelor life and marrying the British human rights lawyer earlier this year, and their big day is thought to finally be here, after he was snapped arriving at what is believed to be their wedding venue.


George Clooney

George was, of course, looking his usual handsome and suave self in his black tuxedo, which was reportedly designed by Giorgio Armani.

It’s been that the happy couple will hold a wedding ceremony on Saturday evening at the lavish seven-star venue, before holding a more simple civil ceremony that will officially make them man and wife on Monday.


George Clooney outside the Grande Hotel

The couple are yet to publicly confirm the plans for their nuptials, although it has been reported they will hold their second, more official, ceremony at the Palazzo Cavalli, Venice’s town hall where civil weddings are traditionally held.


George and his guests arrive by boat

George was seen arriving at the hotel on one of Venice’s famous gondolas, adorned with a monogram that the pair had specially designed for their big day.

Among the famous guests at their wedding include Vogue editor Anna Wintour, George’s ‘Oceans Eleven’ co-star Matt Damon and supermodel Cindy Crawford, whose husband, Rande Gerber, will be acting as best man.

The Academy Award winner first let slip that he was going to be walking down the aisle in Venice during a speech at the Celebrity Fight Night event earlier this month, where he also expressed his excitement to get married, telling Amal: “I love you very much and I can’t wait to be your husband.”

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‘Emmerdale' Spoiler: Debbie's Left Shocked After Pete's Night At Leyla's (PICS)

September 28, 2014, 1:04 am

≫ Next: Lynda Bellingham Reveals Terminal Cancer, Former 'Loose Woman' Plans To Stop Chemotherapy So She Can Spend Last Christmas With Family

≪ Previous: George Clooney Wedding: Actor Arrives At Venice's Canal Grande Hotel Where He Will Reportedly Marry Amal Alamuddin (PICS)

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Debbie Dingle’s in for a shock in ‘Emmerdale’ when she finds out Pete has spent the night at Leyla’s, however, everything isn’t as it seems.

While it may look as though Pete and Leyla have become more than friends, he’s actually spent the night on the sofa.


Debbie is not going to be happy about this...

Despite the fact nothing happened, Leyla takes the chance to try and make her ex Jai jealous, boasting about the sleepover without realising Debbie is also stood nearby.

After a brief romance, viewers saw Debbie and Pete split following a number issues, including confusion over Charity’s abortion and Debbie’s dalliances with Ross.


Leyla and Pete after spending a platonic night together

It hasn’t been a great month for the Dingle family, who were left rocked by the shock events which took place during Declan and Charity’s mini break.

While bosses are remaining tight-lipped on how Debbie will respond to the latest drama, we can’t see her managing to stay calm…

Watch ‘Emmerdale’ on Friday 3 October to see how Debbie reacts.

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Lynda Bellingham Reveals Terminal Cancer, Former 'Loose Woman' Plans To Stop Chemotherapy So She Can Spend Last Christmas With Family

September 28, 2014, 1:51 am

≫ Next: 'X Factor' Bosses 'Pressured Cheryl Fernandez-Versini' To Save Chloe Jasmine During Boot Camp 'Six Chair Challenge'

≪ Previous: ‘Emmerdale' Spoiler: Debbie's Left Shocked After Pete's Night At Leyla's (PICS)

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Lynda Bellingham has revealed the devastating news that she has terminal cancer, saying she wants to spend one last Christmas with her family.

The actress first discussed her cancer battle last summer, although in excerpts of her forthcoming autobiography ‘Memoir’, which have been serialised in the Mail on Sunday, she has since said that her condition has worsened, and she now plans to stop her treatment.


Lynda Bellingham

Lynda writes: “I know it is not ultimately my decision, but it is my last vestige of control to sit in front of the oncologist and say when I would like to stop having chemo and let the natural way do its thing.

“It has been a rather fast deterioration over the past couple of weeks, and bizarrely it has been the desire to finish this book that has both spurred me on and finished me off.

“‘I would love to make one more Christmas, if possible, but I want to stop taking chemo around November in order to pass away by the end of January.’

"It was such a relief to say the words."

She goes on to say: “Please don’t think I am giving up for the sake of a few ulcers, it is the fact my body has started to rot, and I promised myself as soon as that happened I would make a plan.

“I want my family to remember me whole. I want you all to remember me.”

After the excerpts were published, Lynda thanked her fans for their support on Twitter, but added that she will be taking a break from social media due to the "overwhelming" reaction to her sad news.

Hi everyone just to say thank you for all your support it means so much. I am not going to tweet anymore today as you can imagine it is

— Lynda Bellingham (@LyndaBellingham) September 28, 2014

All a bit overwhelming. So I am lying low today. But will respond ASAP. Thank you again.

— Lynda Bellingham (@LyndaBellingham) September 28, 2014

Just one more thing folks I have written this book to help everyone who has cancer or a terminal illness. You are not alone. And I am just

— Lynda Bellingham (@LyndaBellingham) September 28, 2014

One of thousands going through this. So love and luck to you all x

— Lynda Bellingham (@LyndaBellingham) September 28, 2014

Lynda’s numerous acting credits include ‘Doctor Who’, a nationwide theatre tour of ‘Calendar Girls’ and a stint on the panel of ‘Loose Women’.

She was honoured with an OBE for her charity work earlier this year.

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'X Factor' Bosses 'Pressured Cheryl Fernandez-Versini' To Save Chloe Jasmine During Boot Camp 'Six Chair Challenge'

September 28, 2014, 2:34 am

≫ Next: ‘EastEnders' Spoiler: Pregnant Ronnie Mitchell Discovers Her Baby's Gender At Scan (PICS)

≪ Previous: Lynda Bellingham Reveals Terminal Cancer, Former 'Loose Woman' Plans To Stop Chemotherapy So She Can Spend Last Christmas With Family

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Cheryl Fernandez-Versini was put under pressure by ‘X Factor’ bosses to put Chloe Jasmine through to the “judges’ houses” stage of the competition, it has been alleged.

During Friday night’s show, viewers watched as Cheryl ditched Chloe during the “six chair challenge”, only to change her mind and bring her back at the last minute, at the expense of Orla Keogh.


Chloe Jasmine

However, while it might have looked like the Geordie judge made the call herself, it’s been claimed that she decided to give Chloe a second chance after producers piled on the pressure.

A source told The Sun: “Cheryl had axed Chloe despite Simon Cowell begging her to keep her. It was only after the producers went to see Cheryl that she suddenly changed her mind.

“The mood in the audience was already pretty toxic and after that it looked like there was going to be a riot. Tensions were high.”


Cheryl felt the pressure at Boot Camp

After bringing Chloe back to the stage, Cheryl told her: “I want versatility in my group going forward. If I had six girls who all represented the same thing, it would be boring. I want somebody that can do something different each week, you have that for me.”

It has been previously reported that Chloe had been given an unfair advantage during this year’s auditions, when she was given a second chance to perform for the panel after her first attempt was reportedly “a car crash”.

Chloe first auditioned for ‘The X Factor’ in 2006 - the year Leona Lewis was crowned the winner - but was given a stern dressing down by an unimpressed Simon Cowell after her performance.

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‘EastEnders' Spoiler: Pregnant Ronnie Mitchell Discovers Her Baby's Gender At Scan (PICS)

September 28, 2014, 3:19 am

≫ Next: 'X Factor' Review: Andrea Faustini Moves Cheryl Fernandez-Versini And Even Mel B To Tears With Whitney Houston Cover

≪ Previous: 'X Factor' Bosses 'Pressured Cheryl Fernandez-Versini' To Save Chloe Jasmine During Boot Camp 'Six Chair Challenge'

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After returning to Walford following orders from Peggy Mitchell, Ronnie will discover the gender of her baby in ‘EastEnders’, when she attends a scan.

The Mitchell sister will make her trip to the hospital with Charlie, after she admits to him that he’s the father of the baby.


Is Ronnie having a boy or a girl?

Perhaps surprisingly, Charlie vows to support Ronnie and the pair begin bond before finding out the sex of their baby.

There have been plenty of surprises in ‘EastEnders’ lately, including the reappearance of Peggy Mitchell, who is determined to ruin her son’s wedding plans.

While bosses are yet to reveal whether Phil and Sharon actually tie the knot, we do know that either one of them, or Shirley Carter, will be left nursing a gunshot wound on the big day.

The Carters and the Mitchells haven’t exactly had it easy in the last few months and both families are set to be rocked by two new arrivals.

While the Carter clan will get even bigger when Shirley’s mother arrives in the Square, Phil will gain a rival when a mystery, new hardman arrives in Walford.

Watch ‘EastEnders’ on Friday 10 October to find out if Ronnie’s having a boy or a girl.

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'X Factor' Review: Andrea Faustini Moves Cheryl Fernandez-Versini And Even Mel B To Tears With Whitney Houston Cover

September 28, 2014, 3:52 am

≫ Next: George Clooney And Amal Alamuddin Married: Newlyweds Show Off Wedding Rings Following Venice Ceremony (PICS)

≪ Previous: ‘EastEnders' Spoiler: Pregnant Ronnie Mitchell Discovers Her Baby's Gender At Scan (PICS)

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Andrea Faustini might well prove to be this year’s ‘X Factor’ dark horse, after his Boot Camp performance on Saturday night moved both of the female judges to tears.

Until now, Andrea had been more beloved by ‘X Factor’ viewers for his sweet nature and love of pugs than his talent - but he made it clear that he is a force to be reckoned with in his most recent performance, which earned him a spot at judges’ houses.


Andrea gets emotional after his heartfelt performance

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and, yes, even Mel B - who unleashed her inner Scary Spice on some of the less talented hopefuls in Friday night’s show - were seen crying at the Italian singer’s rendition of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Didn’t Know My Own Strength’.

Andrea revealed to the judges after taking to the stage that his song choice hit home with him, claiming: “I didn’t know my own strength. I didn’t know I could be strong and powerful on stage."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/watch-andrea-faustinis-towering-x-4336861#ixzz3EbfArZfD
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook.”

After shedding tears at his performance, the former Spice Girl told Andrea: “You’re so precious, and so honest and true when you sing - you’ve just got it.”

Unfortunately, Mel had already used up all of her spaces in the “six chair challenge” when he arrived on stage, meaning she had to cast aside young hopeful Hayden Leeman in order to give Andrea a spot.

He is now one of the six boys who will next week be seen arriving in Mexico to fight for a place in the live shows during “judges houses”, where Mel will be given some help in whittling down her acts from her former bandmate, Emma Bunton.

Don’t miss the final stage of this year’s ‘X Factor’ Boot Camp on Sunday, 28 September at 8pm on ITV.

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George Clooney And Amal Alamuddin Married: Newlyweds Show Off Wedding Rings Following Venice Ceremony (PICS)

September 28, 2014, 7:05 am

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The first photos of George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin since they tied the knot in Italy have emerged, showing the happy couple proudly displaying their new wedding rings.

George’s spokesperson confirmed on Saturday evening that he and Amal were now married, after holding a lavish wedding at Venice’s seven star Aman Canal Grande Hotel.


George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin

The newlyweds were seen smiling for photographers as they left the hotel by boat, posing together and showing off their new wedding bands.

No photos of the top human rights lawyer’s wedding dress have been seen yet, although George was photographed arriving at the venue looking his usual suave and handsome self on Saturday in a simple tuxedo.


The newlyweds leave their wedding venue by boat

Among the famous guests at their wedding include Vogue editor Anna Wintour, George’s ‘Oceans Eleven’ co-star Matt Damon and supermodel Cindy Crawford, whose husband, Rande Gerber, acted as best man to the Oscar-winning actor.

Following their wedding this weekend, it’s thought that the pair are planning a second civil ceremony on Monday, which will officially make them a married couple.

The Academy Award winner first let slip that he was going to be walking down the aisle in Venice during a speech at the Celebrity Fight Night event earlier this month, where he also expressed his excitement to get married, telling Amal: “I love you very much and I can’t wait to be your husband.”

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