Duran Duran are to represent musical talent from England at a concert marking the start of the Olympic Games.

“Man, I’m nervous,” admits Green Gartside, the notoriously stage shy Eighties pop star, before a faultless rendition of his perky paean to hip-hop “The Boom Boom Bap”, from 2006’s White Bread Black Beer.

The pop music of the Eighties was bright, bouncy and shiny – and the biweekly magazine Smash Hits displayed the same qualities while providing the perfect handbook for teenagers throughout the British Isles and beyond to follow the latest bands and trends. A mainstay of the much-loved publication throughout the first half of the Eighties, the photographer Eric Watson shot many of its iconic covers, including those featuring Madonna, Madness and Morrissey, and helped define the "heroic" look of many of the acts from the period.

Chris Ronnie, the former chief executive of JJB Sports, was yesterday charged by the Serious Fraud Office over an alleged £1m fraud relating to contracts entered into by the sportswear retailer in 2008.

In news to dismay many music fans, Stock, Aitken and Waterman are getting the gang back together for a reunion gig. But will Kylie come too? By Simon Usborne

The Ting Tings threw away an album's worth of material before completing their new release, they tell Andy Gill

Singer George Michael has returned home to the UK after leaving hospital in Vienna.

Aliona Vilani received plaudits – and plenty of jealousy – for partnering Harry Judd to victory

Martin Kemp is Emeritus Professor in the history of art at Trinity College Oxford. He so is: he has written extensively about Leonardo da Vinci. He is conceivably the world's top go-to guy for Leonardo studies. Certainly, his blog contains a warning to any passers-by who might want to waste his time by knocking at his North Oxford door to ask him about the dodgy Leonardos they've bought in Romford market recently.

Producer Joe Henry writes a brilliant sleevenote arguing that great artists transcend genre.

The Subo story is a feel-good potboiler brought to life: dowdy Scottish introvert turns up at Britain's Got Talent to initial audience titters, but wows the world with her untutored perfect pitch and West End-worthy projection.