Government stumps up £100,000 to ensure musicians from Middle East can play at festival
John Forrest: Actor, painter and magician who worked with David Lean and Lord Olivier
Friday 25 May 2012
John Forrest was a magician before he was an actor. The painter, Stanley Spencer's black-sheep brother Horace, taught him card tricks in a boat on the Thames when he was 10. And "magic" fascinated him for the rest of his life. Or, as he put it, "illusion". "Everything I've done has been to do with illusion," he said in a 1996 Radio 4 documentary: "acting, painting, and making things appear and disappear. Perhaps I couldn't deal with reality"
Album: Saint Etienne, Words and Music by Saint Etienne (Heavenly)
Sunday 20 May 2012
The handover between "Over the Border" - a semi-spoken memoir about the powerful hold of pop over the young mind - and "I've Got Your Music" encapsulates everything that's great about Saint Etienne: one minute they're singing about great pop, the next they're actually doing some.
How We Met: Chris Cox and Tim Minchin
Sunday 20 May 2012
'I get frustrated by how good he is, but it inspires me to do better'
Anderson's fiver appears spent in vain
Saturday 05 May 2012
Observations: Sculptors in full swing as they tee up a crazy course
Saturday 28 April 2012
Would you like to whack a sculpture with a golf ball? The first bespoke fine art mini-golf course in the UK has nine holes, each being designed by well-known artists, including Jake Chapman and David Shrigley.
Penn and Teller take magician to court over trick
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Two magicians at crossed wands are heading to court over the rights to an illusion and the very principle of the secrecy of magic.
Agenda: Miharayasuhiro; Jamie N Commons; Mother's Day; Frankenweenie; Super Morrissey Bros
Sunday 11 March 2012
Fashion: Take the tough with the smooth
Follow @AlanCarr
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Follow @AlanCarr " width="80" height="60" onclick="location.href='http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/the-twitter-100-top-10-entertainment-7467001.html';" class="" />The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee, By Glyn Parry
Sunday 19 February 2012
Was Queen Elizabeth wise to appoint a court occultist, even one who claimed to confer with the angels? The truth is, most rulers were at it
Simon Kelner: A renaissance man and a much-overlooked sport
Friday 10 February 2012
Not long after Fabio Capello had resigned in the time-honoured fashion of being thrown overboard, we were discussing the big sporting question of the moment: why has table tennis never taken off as a television sport, given that everything from darts and snooker to pro-celebrity golf has had its moment?
The Weekend's Viewing: Cricklewood Greats, Sun, BBC4
Bomber Boys, Sun, BBC1
Monday 06 February 2012
Pastiche is a pretty unforgiving form of comedy.
Costa Concordia cruise captain 'overrode computer'
Monday 16 January 2012
The captain of the wrecked cruise ship which hit rocks off Italy made "an unapproved, unauthorised" deviation to his route, the liner's owners said today.
Jerry Sadowitz: Comedian, Magician, Pyschopath!, Leicester Square Theatre, London (3/5)
Thursday 08 December 2011
Ricky Gervais reminded us recently, as if we'd forgotten, that language can still offend en masse if its use is misjudged.








