The queen

The Queen lent the Duchess of Cambridge her pearl earrings for her appearance on A Berry Royal Christmas, which airs on BBC One tonight.  Kate Middleton, 37, borrowed the silver jubilee diamond and pearl earrings from the monarch, 93, who first wore them to celebrate her silver jubilee in 1977. Appearing alongside Prince William, also 37, Kate wore the glitzy drop earrings along with a  £1,018 red polka-dot dress by Alessandra Rich to film the charity segment.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge teamed up with TV chef Mary Berry, 84, to cook an extra special Christmas dinner for staff and volunteers at the charities they support.  The Queen, seen in May at Heathrow airport, lent the Duchess of Cambridge her pearl earrings for her appearance on A Berry Royal Christmas, which airs on BBC One tonight Wearing her hair in its signature immaculate blow dry, Kate cut a stylish appearance - even with an apron over her print dress, keeping her accessories … [Read more...] about A good luck charm from the Queen! Kate Middleton borrowed Her Majesty’s favourite diamond and pearl earrings to wear while filming A Berry Royal Christmas

Janey Godley prods her chin lovingly, as she talks about ageing. “I love putting up pictures on Twitter of me with no makeup. See every wrinkle,” says the Glaswegian comedian, who is 58. For a glancing moment, she sounds a little awestruck. “I survived rape, I survived my Ma being murdered, this is my face. If it offends you, don’t look at it. I think other people should have that attitude.” Godley is sitting in the kitchen of the elegant Edinburgh tenement flat she has rented for the duration of the fringe with her daughter Ashley Storrie, a successful comic too, of whom her mum is glowingly proud. It is a biblically rainy day, and Godley has erected a shoe-changing station of plastic bags and a small stool at the front door, anxious to keep the carpets clean. With years of five-star reviews and sold-out gigs behind her, recent months have brought her a huge new audience as a result of the political voiceovers she posts online. Within hours of Boris … [Read more...] about ‘I joked about my life – Ma’s murder, child abuse, gangsters’: how Janey Godley became the queen of comedy

There are some things that only ever happen at Christmas, like Turkish delight, charades and pretending to like each other, which is a sort of real-time no-fun game of charades that goes on for days. Perhaps the most famous Thing That Only Happens At Christmas is The Queen’s Speech. The Queen’s Speech is very much the Bond film of the Christmas TV schedules. It’s traditional for old people to talk to the TV, especially if they’re trying to remember which sitcom the actor in the funeral plan advert used to be in, or losing their shit with the news. But this is more than that, because the Queen’s Speech has been going on for decades and decades, ever since Her Majesty was barely out of her Princessing uniform. It’s probably the longest-running TV series of all time. Longer even than Coronation Street or The Weather. That’s why it can be hard to work out where you are in the plot when you first watch it. It’s probably one of those things … [Read more...] about ‘A human Keep Calm and Carry On poster’: Philomena Cunk on the Queen’s Speech

It may just be days to Christmas, but now that Boris Johnson has his "stonking" parliamentary majority, there is plenty of work still to do in the House. Here's how the next few days will play out.  Cabinet reshuffle On Monday, Mr Johnson is expected to carry out a reshuffle of his cabinet. He will have to replace Zac Goldsmith, a Defra minister who lost his seat to the Liberal Democrats' Sarah Olney in Richmond Park. Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary are likely to remain in their posts, but Jacob Rees-Mogg -  who was sidelined during the election after his comments about the Grenfell fire - may well not return. As MPs return to Parliament, new members will start to move into their new base. They will be assigned offices, with the party whips deciding which MPs get offices in the Palace of Westminster and which get modern office space in Portcullis House, over the road. The Prime Minister is expected to … [Read more...] about What next after the election? The Queen’s Speech and Boris’ Brexit deal

Valaida Even after a lifetime of listening to jazz, one question tends to remain unanswered: what do musicians think about while they improvise? Does the mind's eye see written notes, or do colours and patterns emerge? Is the written melody always present, as a kind of handrail? Does the harmonic pathway unfold like a steeplechase course, with dips and hurdles and water-jumps? What happens during that transcendent moment in which memorised technique falls away and deeper instincts take over? No musician has ever given a really satisfactory answer, probably because there are as many answers as there are musicians. So for writers wishing to investigate the process, the only option is to bring the imagination into play. Candace Allen's first novel, based on the true story of the trumpeter Valaida Snow, is an attempt to lengthen the short list of semi-fictional works, led by Michael Ondaatje's Coming Through Slaughter and including Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful , that hope to illuminate the … [Read more...] about Trumpet queen