Years ago, back when Boris still needed a surname, a young Steve Hilton hoped to run for Mayor of London. But the Tories were nowhere near ready to choose a shaven-headed, tieless iconoclast as their candidate. Later, Hilton tried to be selected as an MP, but although he looked like many a metropolitan media professional, he was far too modern for the Conservative local associations. They preferred the throwback of a good-looking, public-school banker in pin-stripes.

The recent Grammys awarded them Best Folk Album and Best Country Duo, which tells you that Joy Williams and John Paul White need no introduction (or genre) in the US.

When Jonathan Church's production of Singin' in the Rain opened in Chichester last summer it brought the reviewers out in a fevered rash of five star raves.

Occupy London protesters who took over an office building in the City have left the site just hours after they occupied it.

Johnny Otis was one of the most important figures in American black music, working as a songwriter, pianist, drummer, arranger and bandleader. He discovered many of the best rhythm and blues stars, including Little Willie John, Etta James and Esther Phillips. He was an extraordinary personality, all the more extraordinary for not being black.

How did an article in The Independent lead to the creation of a portable school for Burmese refugee children?

Mortgage indemnity plan will help many get on to the property ladder, says Tony Pidgley

Part of California's famous Highway 1 route has crumbled into the Pacific Ocean.

The mayor of Beverly Hills is outraged over a Miss USA contestant who spoke out against same-sex marriage and said she represented the city in the pageant.

The parents of missing Madeleine McCann said today that the reappearance of child kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard 18 years after she disappeared "only makes us more determined" to find their daughter.

To wine buffs the 1976 blind-tasting of the old-world French and the brash new Californians as organised by the Academie du Vin's Steven Spurrier is a landmark.