Brian Aldiss, author of the classic Helliconia trilogy, and the story on which Steven Spielberg’s 2001 film AI: Artificial Intelligence was based, was one of Britain’s most accomplished and versatile writers of science fiction. In a lifelong and prolific career, Aldiss, who has died aged 92, produced more than 40 novels and almost as many short-story collections. An ambitious and gifted writer, with a flowing and inventive literary style, he did not confine himself to science fiction. As well as his prodigious output of SF, he wrote several bestselling mainstream novels, poetry, drama, two autobiographies and several film scenarios. He also edited a huge number of anthologies and produced a body of criticism that was remarkable for its energy and clarity. He began publishing his stories in the mid-1950s, a time when SF was heavily dominated by US writers schooled in the markets of commercial magazines. Aldiss’s work came as a breath of fresh air to a genre beginning … [Read more...]

CATCHING a first glimpse of your unborn baby is an exciting moment for all expectant mums and dads. And many can’t wait to get a snap of the scan of their little bundle of joy to show off to all their friends and family. Excited parents then often spend hours pouring over the pictures trying to work out their baby’s hands, feet and even facial features. But for some, the photos are so amazing, that it appears their unborn kids are eager to make a big impression – before even taking their first breaths. And from pulling rockstar poses to offering a high-five, here are some of the baby scan pictures that really have to be seen to be believed. High five? Libby and Mathew Vlasic, from New York, were overjoyed to learn that their six-year-old son Miles was to become a big brother. But they were left even more stunned when their unborn baby looked like she was giving them a high five from inside the womb on their scan picture. At just nine weeks pregnant the happy couple … [Read more...]

Battlefield 1 fans will want to tune in to EA's Gamescom 2017n live stream later today.EA is expected to reveal the exact release date for the new Battlefield 1 DLC, and will also showcase some of the new maps and weapons on offer."At Gamescom, we are gearing up for the next step, with more news, more gameplay, and more experiences for the hundreds of thousands of players joining us in-person in Cologne, Germany, and the millions more joining us online," EA explains."It begins with the EA Live Show. Tune in to EA.com on August 21 at, where we’ll uncover what’s coming for the Battlefield competitive gaming experience and let you in on other news."The EA Live Stream will be broadcast on the Electronic Arts website from 5.30pm, and will be followed by another broadcast dedicated exclusively to Battlefield 1.This will include details and patch notes for the newly released Battlefield 1 PS4, Xbox One and PC update. Battlefield 1 In the … [Read more...]

THOUSANDS of Leaving Cert students woke up early this morning to find out had they been offered a place to study in college. The CAO first round offers opened at 6am, with students having until August 28 to respond to a third level offer. The top three Dublin universities saw demand fall for the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths. Engineering at Trinity is down to 470 points from 500 points – with science down to 499 points from 505 points. Professor Chris Morash of Trinity College said: “As Vice-Provost at Trinity – and also as a parent this year of a Leaving Cert student – at a very personal level I recognise and applaud the heroic effort that goes into achieving these results, not just for the students, but for their families as well. “You are now standing in a place where you can look ahead to the person you will become. “A third level education is not just about assimilating facts, it is about challenging yourself, both … [Read more...]

The ruffled shirt and shiny purple coat will hardly need a label on the display case: some of the most instantly recognisable and dashing stage outfits, created for Prince on legendary tours including Purple Rain in 1984 and LoveSexy in 1988, are leaving his vast archives at Paisley Park for the first time since his death, and coming to the O2 in London. The exhibition, including several of his customised guitars, jewellery, and stage costumes, will be in the same venue where Prince played a sold out run of 21 concerts as part of the Earth tour in 2007, a still unbroken record. The concert included a string of his greatest hits, including Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret and Little Red Corvette: he announced that it would be the last time he played them, which turned out not to be true. The exhibition, like the shows, will run for 21 days, from 27 October. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prince - When Doves Cry (Official Music Video) Prince died of an accidental … [Read more...]

Voters switched party allegiances at unprecedented rates in the general election as they tried to game the failing electoral system, according to voting reform campaigners. Elections are now more like lottery than a real choice with 22 million votes cast in June having no impact on the result, the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) found. It branded the June vote the “hold your nose” election after an estimated 6.5 million people made tactical decisions and said the Conservatives could have won a majority if just 0.0016 per cent of voters had chosen differently. The first-past-the-post system is exaggerating divisions because of the huge discrepancy in the number of votes cast in an area for a party and the number of seats it wins and a new system must now be introduced, the ERS said. Labour won 29% of votes cast in the South East but got just 10% of seats, while Tories won 34% of the North East but returned just 9 per cent of seats, according to its research. ERS chief … [Read more...]

For some, it is his masterpiece. For others, it is unendurably and outrageously awful, an exercise in frantically broad slapstick comedy that inspires pure disbelief, as well as derision for those reported chin-strokers and ironic postmodernists in France and elsewhere who affect to admire it. The film is The Nutty Professor, from 1963, that wacky doppelgänger farce inspired by Jekyll and Hyde, co-written and directed by its legendary star… Jerry Lewis. Jerry Lewis, king of comedy, dies at 91 Read more Lewis was the knockabout zany clown, singer and showbusiness savant who started professional life in a double-act with lugubrious Dean Martin as his straight man, went solo and was for a while the biggest comedy star in Hollywood, with dozens of movies and hit records. But then endured a fadeout, suddenly and utterly unfashionable and marooned at the end of the 60s by new fads and the New Wave. And his annual telethon in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy … [Read more...]

AN oil painting thought to have been a fake John Constable has been valued at £2million. The work, bought for £35,000 in the 1990s, had been dismissed as the work of a imitator. But BBC1’s Fake or Fortune, hosted by Fiona Bruce, has had the painting verified as a Constable. It shows an alternative view of his iconic The Hay Wain, which fetched £22.4million at auction in London in 2012. Constable painted Willy Lott’s Cottage at Flatford, Suffolk, from many angles before his best-known masterpiece. Fiona’s co-host Philip Mould had the painting in his possession when he was a fledgling art dealer but failed to authenticate it. Twenty years on he and Fiona re-examined it with its current owner and had it verified using technology and two Constable experts. Fiona said: “I’m thrilled. It is rare to take a painting back through time to the brush of the artist himself.” Princess Di shared agony of her 'grim' divorce from Prince Charles with … [Read more...]

PARISIANS are so fond of aimlessly wandering around their city that they had to invent a special word for it. To “flâner” is the art of taking a leisurely stroll to nowhere in particular – and dawdling pedestrians like my fiancée and I are known as “flâneurs”. We’d been flânering all day, window-shopping in quirky thrift shops, picnicking in the park and purposelessly ambling up and down the banks of Canal Saint-Martin by our hotel. We were on a 36-hour trip in the French capital with Eurostar for the launch of Interludes, a new series of surprise travel experiences. The first was themed around gastronomy. Our foodie adventure had begun early that morning, as our train raced through Kent with four top chefs on board rustling up a unique breakfast. Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem from Mokonuts in Paris and Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich from Honey & Co in London collaborated on a ten-item feast of exotic flavours. The … [Read more...]

CELTIC WAG Helen Flanagan has been brushing up on her acting skills after being branded “wooden” by viewers during her Coronation Street comeback. The soap beauty seems to have taken some of the hurtful comments to heart as she signed up for a two week acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Helen, 27, who is dating Hoops striker Scott Sinclair, posted an Instagram snap of herself flashing her abs in a white crop-top outside the prestigious London stage school. The Rosie Webster actress wrote: “Had the most amazing time on my two week course at RADA, absolutely loved it”. However, fans rallied round Helen claiming she didn’t need any acting lessons. marcella_mcd wrote: “Well Done! I already love your comedic acting! Rosie makes me cry laughing!” hollybarron_ added: “your a fab actress helen, glad it went well just wanna say the haters are jealous , I love rosie and the way you portray her.” Earlier this year we told … [Read more...]

HELEN Flanagan has been brushing up on her acting skills after being branded "wooden" by viewers during her Coronation Street comeback. The actress was trolled by a minority of viewers when she returned to the soap as hapless Rosie Webster and has since signed up for a two week acting course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to improve her craft. Helen, 27, who is dating Hoops striker Scott Sinclair, posted an Instagram snap of herself flashing her abs in a white crop-top outside the prestigious London stage school. She wrote: "Had the most amazing time on my two week course at RADA, absolutely loved it". However, fans rallied round Helen claiming she didn't need any acting lessons. marcella_mcd wrote: "Well Done! I already love your comedic acting! Rosie makes me cry laughing!" hollybarron_ added: "your a fab actress helen, glad it went well just wanna say the haters are jealous , I love rosie and the way you portray her." Earlier this year we told how the Corrie beauty was trolled … [Read more...]

If you like the idea of Banksy – the whole is-he-or-isn’t-he-the-bloke-from-Massive-Attack backstory, the ghastly theme parks and grand political statements – then the good news is that there is a perfect artist for you: his name is Banksy. If, however, you are of the opinion that Banksy simply isn’t elusive enough, or you are put off by all the insurrection stuff, then the good news is that there is an artist for you too. In anonymity and elusiveness terms, he makes Banksy look like someone banging a big bass drum underneath a flashing neon “YES IT’S ME, BANKSY!” sign, and his work is mercifully devoid of radical imagery. Best of all, he does all of his art in pubs. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mario Lanza beer mat by The Ghostwriter aka AJW. Photograph: facebook The only thing that has been let slip about AJW by the few people who claim to have met him recently is that he is a he … [Read more...]

Outside comedy, the Fringe staple, shows of a political, social and transgender nature abound, reflecting some of the issues of the moment. The Summerhall venue probably has the greatest number of such in one place. Performers come from all over the world “to demonstrate, speak out and challenge audiences, not just entertain them”. For example, Dog Life is the second play in a trilogy which follows the rehabilitation of a jailed Glasgow enforcer, Thomas McCrudden, in which he plays himself as he discovers the effect he has had on others, particularly women, in his life. A very powerful show. I was very tempted to see Summerhall's Pictish Trail and Friends, a one-off show about music and life on the Isle of Eigg - until I realised that it started at 20.00 and went on until 03.00. Now that is a Fringe marathon. As usual, there is a peppering of current political issues at the Fringe. Clearly, the yearly event is definitely left looking, and has always been - an … [Read more...]

Two years after graduating from the Bristol Old Vic theatre school in 2008, Southampton-born Laura Carmichael was cast in ITV’s Downton Abbey and shot to fame. Since starring as Lady Edith for the last time in 2015, she has appeared in several films including indie comedy Burn Burn Burn and period drama A United Kingdom. She has also carved out an impressive stage career. In 2012 Carmichael made her West End debut in Uncle Vanya, opposite Anna Friel and Samuel West, and has since appeared in two of director Jamie Lloyd’s productions: last year’s The Maids and now Apologia, alongside Stockard Channing, at the Trafalgar Studios, London, until 18 November. Click here for tickets 1 | Restaurant Kricket, Soho, London Facebook Twitter Pinterest A selection of the food on offer at Kricket in London. I’m obsessed with this Indian small-plates restaurant; I can’t stop thinking about it. I love Indian food … [Read more...]

On a hazy summer morning, Dover harbour appears to be in a state of perpetual motion. Beneath the white cliffs, cross-Channel ferries glide in and out while, closer to shore, a fleet of dinghies skims across the water. A group of swimmers make their way along the shingle beach, watched over by a sculpture of two bathers ploughing through the waves – a reminder that this has been the starting point for countless attempts to swim the Channel. Beneath my feet, inlaid into the paving stones of the esplanade, a granite strip marks the start/finish line for the North Downs Way long-distance walking trail. Chalkup21 map Dover has always been a place of arrival and departure. As Britain’s busiest passenger port, it’s used by some 13 million cruise and ferry passengers each year, but few stick around. “It’s the sort of place people tend to want to get out of quickly, which is a shame because there is so much to discover,” says Joanna Jones, co-director of … [Read more...]

On 6 July, three weeks after a still-unknown number of people died in the Grenfell Tower fire, Greg Hands MP, minister for London, wrote an open letter to London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to ask whether it was “appropriate” to hold Notting Hill carnival in the “proximity of a major national disaster”. Khan moved swiftly to dismiss Hands’s intervention, replying that any attempt to move the carnival would be a mistake “at a time when the community has little trust in those in positions of authority… It is only right that this year’s carnival marks the terrible tragedy at Grenfell Tower and the mayor will work closely with the organisers and the wider community to ensure they are consulted and involved in the planning for an appropriate commemoration.” People see ghosts, hear the screams at night… All of us here that morning saw what was happening behind those windows “We need carnival more than ever … [Read more...]

Born in Chester in 1966, Richard Woods graduated from the Slade School of Art in 1990. He has become known for his architectural installations characterised by cartoon-like decorative surfaces, bold patterns and vibrant colours, which he has said are inspired by his parents’ garish 1970s home and were once described by the Guardian as “beguilingly simple and wickedly clever”. In the past, Woods has turned a New York gallery into a mock-Tudor building, and created a wall-to-ceiling installation of geometric patterns at London’s Alan Cristea gallery. For his latest project, Holiday Home – part of this year’s Folkestone Triennial (2 Sept to 5 Nov) – Woods has created six colourful bungalows, situated in unexpected locations around the town. How did you get the idea for the project?I was in Folkestone 18 months ago and got given this strange leaflet saying, “Have you thought about turning your property into cash?” … [Read more...]

Last week, the London Evening Standard ran a single article in its editorial column, rather than its usual two, something it only does in matters of grave importance. It was about the end of plans to build a garden bridge over the Thames and blamed the mayor, Sadiq Khan, for killing off “a brilliant and imaginative plan” and for wasting public money. The nerve was breathtaking. If anyone wasted public money, it was the former chancellor George Osborne and the former mayor Boris Johnson, who promised £60m to a project whose viability was always in doubt. Osborne, of course, is now editor of the Evening Standard. What finally killed the bridge was cost, which went from a promised £60m in 2013, to £100m, to £185m, to £200m and possibly more, plus at least £3m per year in running costs. Had it been even close to the original estimates, there would have been enough public and private money to fund it. It might be thought that the bridge’s … [Read more...]

Marceau is back on UK screens tonight in the Bond classic.Marceau brought a delicious ambiguity to her role as the imperilled heiress who turns the tables (and screws) on Brosnan's Bond in spectacular fashion. The bed scenes are standard OO7 titillation. The torture scene is fantastically OTT.Marceau was 33 when she made her Bond debut in 1999 and already had decades of big screen fame in Europe behind her. Away from the restrictions of Hollywood, the gorgeous Gallic star is not afraid to strip in her movies. From teenage exploration and innocent shower scenes to brutal prison moments, she steams up the screen in a succession of raunchy roles.She made her debut at 14 in 1980's La Boum but became a najor sex symbol at 20 with the release of Descent Into Hell in 1986.NEXT: SOPHIE MARCEAU'S SEXIEST PICTURE GALLERY AND CLIPS (WARNING: ADULT CONTENT AND NUDITY) Sophie Marceau sexiest movie scenes Tue, August 15, 2017 … [Read more...]

Massaat and Owen Burrows put themselves back in the big time with victory in the Hungerford Stakes here, the first success they have enjoyed together after 18 months of early promise and lasting frustration. A Dewhurst runner-up when with Barry Hills in 2015, Massaat was the dream horse that Burrows was handed at the start of his training career and then threatened to turn into a nightmare. Just a month after Burrows had his very first runner, Massaat ran second in the 2,000 Guineas, providing the kind of thrill and a quantity of hope that few trainers ever get to experience. But then he was a blatant non-stayer in the Derby and injured a leg trying to pick up a Group Three at Salisbury. He came here without a run for more than a year, having crocked himself again when he was supposed to be taking it easy over the winter. In the meantime, Burrows had endured additional angst with the filly Talaayeb, fourth in the 1,000 Guineas and then seventh of eight at odds of 4-7 on her only run … [Read more...]