After his sensitive soul-boy debut and a major label follow-up that flirted with ELO-style cleverness, Michigan auteur Hawthorne has synthesised his influences into perfect power pop, with the help of producers including Pharrell Williams.

The Beatles musical Let It Be opens on Broadway tonight, despite an on-going copyright dispute filed against the show by a rival production.

City grandee Sir Paul Judge has warned that he will countersue the scandal-ridden mining concern Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation after the Kazakhstan-based group lodged a High Court writ against him.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), the Kazakh miner embroiled in a corruption and bribery investigation, has filed a legal claim against its former  director, Sir Paul Judge, and is seeking unspecified damages, accusing him of leaking confidential information to the media.

Rival tribute acts will battle it out in court for the right to recreate the band’s music on stage

Frank Skinner: 'It’s like those Japanese fish. You take all the nasty bits out and it’s not poisonous'

Dressed in black and protected by fifties-style shades, Richard Hawley explains the inspiration behind 'Don't Stare At The Sun': the mundane act of taking his youngest son kite flying. “What made it interesting was I was off me head on fucking acid”.

Raised in rural County Clare and educated in a convent, Edna O'Brien fled to swinging London to become a novelist. Her frank, autobiographical debut, The Country Girls (1960), caused outrage back in Ireland, but O'Brien considered it a necessary step in her “daring emancipation”.

The musician, 35, replied to answers in mono-syllables and appeared confused by the word 'prerequisite'

Anguished-sounding Tennessee singer/keyboards player Whitlock followed Eric Clapton from Delaney & Bonnie into Derek and the Dominos.

Richard Lester DVD/Blu-ray (101mins)

Phones put children at risk on the roads

The name of Greater Manchester’s long-awaited version of the London Oyster Card was announced yesterday. It is to be called – drum roll –  “My Get Me There”. And has, unsurprisingly, elicited a big fat “WHAT?” from Mancunians.

Tribute band The Bootleg Beatles will go head-to-head with Sir Mick Jagger and co during the Somerset festival in two weeks' time