Blackadder duo lead birthday honours

Blackadder duo lead birthday honours

14 June 2013 Last updated at 22:41

Blackadder saw Robinson and Atkinson play mismatched protagonists across different periods

Blackadder duo Tony Robinson and Rowan Atkinson have been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Robinson, best known for his portrayal of hapless manservant Baldrick, has received a knighthood in recognition of his public and political service.

Mr Bean star Atkinson has been made a CBE for services to drama and charity.

Indian-born artist Anish Kapoor has been made a knight, while singer Adele, author Kate Mosse and comedian Rob Brydon are also among those honoured.

Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota has become a member of the Order of Companions of Honour, one of just 65 across the Commonwealth. Current members include Lord Coe, David Hockney, Doris Lessing and Lord Patten.

Robinson, 66, said he was "thrilled, flattered and a little gob-smacked" at the recognition.

"I'll use my new title with abandon to highlight the causes I believe in, particularly the importance of culture, the arts and heritage in our society, and the plight of the infirm elderly and their carers," said the former host of C4's Time Team, which was axed last year.

"I also pledge that from this day on I'll slaughter all unruly dragons, and rescue any damsels in distress who request my help," he joked.

Alongside his small screen success, Robinson has had a lengthy association with politics, first as a local Labour activist and later in a senior position at actors' union Equity. He joined Labour Party's National Executive Committee in 2000.

His Blackadder co-star Atkinson said the CBE came as a "genuine surprise" and a "great honour".

Kapoor gained huge public recognition with the ArcelorMittal Orbit at the Olympic Park

Sculptor Kapoor - the man behind the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the 115-metre-high twisted steel tower in the Olympic Park in Stratford, said he was "humbled" to receive his knighthood for services to visual arts.

The artist, 59, has lived in London since the 1970s and won the Turner Prize in 1991. His work, often based on geometric sculptures made from materials including stainless steel, granite, limestone and marble, is shown around world.

Fellow Olympic artist Thomas Heatherwick has also been recognised by the Queen. The award-winning designer, who created the London 2012 Olympic cauldron, said it was an "immense honour" to have been made a CBE for his services to the design industry.

"My passion is the public world around us that we share with each other and I'm proud to have had the chance in recent years to work on public projects of national significance," said the 43-year-old RIBA fellow, whose latest project is to design a pedestrian garden bridge to span the River Thames.

'Pond of culture'

"It is an immense honour to be awarded this distinction and I share it with my team and many others who play an important part in making our projects happen."

Another Turner prize-winning artist, Grayson Perry said he is already thinking about what outfit to wear when he goes to the palace to pick up his CBE for services to contemporary art.

The artist, who regularly appears in drag as his female alter-ego Claire, famously wore a Little Bo Peep outfit when he won the Turner Prize for his ceramics in 2003.

The 53-year-old admitted he had not expected the honour, saying: "I suppose I'm surprised that the tentacles of the establishment reach into my particular pond of culture."

Brydon currently hosts BBC One panel show Would I Lie To You?

Similarly, comedian and actor Rob Brydon expressed surprise at being made an MBE for services to comedy and broadcasting, and to charity: " I accept it not just for me but for short Welsh men everywhere," said the 48-year-old, who made his name in the black comedy Marion and Geoff and co-starred with Steve Coogan in The Trip.

Television's golden girl Clare Balding, who recently collected an honorary Bafta to recognise her on-screen achievements, has been made an OBE, also for services to broadcasting and journalism.

The 42-year-old Olympics host called the honour "the pinnacle" after "a year of unexpected delights".

Originally a racing commentator, she became a household name after presenting both the London 2012 Olympics and the Paralympics, and currently fronts Channel 4 racing.

Aled Jones, who Balding replaced as host of BBC Radio 2's Sunday morning show, joins her in being made an OBE.

"I'm delighted and deeply honoured to be recognised," said the 42-year-old, who first found fame as a choir boy performing The Snowman theme tune Walking In The Air.

"I've been really lucky to have worked with amazing people during my time in the music and TV industry, and now have the privilege to wake the nation up on Daybreak every morning."

Last year Mosse completed the third novel in her Languedoc trilogy, Citadel

Skyfall cinematographer and Coen brothers collaborator Richard Deakins also makes the list, being made a CBE for services to film - a possible salve to years of missing out on the Academy Award, for which he has been nominated ten times.

Fellow Skyfall collaborator, singer Adele - who picked up the Oscar for best song in March - has been made an MBE for services to music, alongside double Mercury winner PJ Harvey.

Harvey was the first person to play a rock concert at Tate Modern, written for a dance company and composed the soundtrack for a stage production of Hedda Gabler, as well as taking small film roles.

Novelists Jackie Collins, Kate Mosse and Joanne Harris have all been recognised for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, with Collins and Mosse - of Labyrinth fame, both being made CBEs and Harris, best known for Chocolat, being made an MBE.

Harris, 48, said she hopes the honour gives people the message that "writing is important".

"It is always nice for the world of literature when writers get an acknowledgement or an honour," said the author of more than 15 novels. "It gets the message to people that writing is important and that it deserves praise."

Veteran actors Claire Bloom, who featured in hits such as the original Brideshead Revisited and Doctor Who, and Game of Thrones' Julian Glover have been made CBEs alongside such arts luminaries as Gailene Stock, Australian-born director of the Royal Ballet School; Michael Attenborough, formerly artistic director of the Almeida theatre and Jonathan Mills, who has received a knighthood in recognition of his eight years at the helm of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Blackadder duo lead birthday honours
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Culture department agrees budget cut

Culture department agrees budget cut

14 June 2013 Last updated at 17:40

Arts Council England gives regular funding to 696 art, theatre, music, literature and dance bodies

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has agreed an 8% cut in spending for 2015-2016 in a deal with the Treasury, the BBC understands.

It is understood that arts and museums will share less of the burden with a reduction of around 5%.

Peter Bazalgette, the new chair of Arts Council England, said it was a "massive result" for the arts.

The DCMS is one of several departments to reach a deal with George Osborne before his spending review on 26 June.

"The Treasury has listened to the arguments of those within the arts and the DCMS," said Mr Bazalgette, before cautioning that the cut still "had to be managed" and "would be tough".

The Treasury wrote to government departments earlier in the year, warning most ministers that they would have to cut up to 10% of their budgets for the year 2015-16.

The BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz said another senior arts figure he spoke to was "audibly relieved".

"I have heard that negations were tough with the Treasury, with the Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander being the hardest to persuade that it made economic and political sense to treat the arts leniently," Mr Gompertz said.

Before the settlement was announced, Arts Council England (ACE) had warned galleries, museums and other cultural bodies that a 10% cut to its budget could force it to remove regular funding from hundreds of organisations.

The DCMS had asked ACE to model for 5%, 10% and 15% cuts for 2015/16. Culture Secretary Maria Miller was initially reported by the Financial Times to have refused to agree to any cuts to her department.

Mr Osborne has called for further belt-tightening in Whitehall on top of the billions being cut from departmental budgets between 2011 and 2015, as he tries to get to grip with the deficit in the public finances.

Culture department agrees budget cut
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Petition urges Greece to reopen ERT

Petition urges Greece to reopen ERT

14 June 2013 Last updated at 16:04

ERT ran three domestic TV channels, four national radio stations, as well regional radio stations and an external service, Voice of Greece.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has called on the Greek government to reopen public broadcaster ERT, after it was shut down suddenly on Tuesday.

EBU president Jean-Paul Philippot is to hand over a petition in Athens signed by 51 European directors general, including the BBC's Tony Hall.

The EBU called the government's action "anti-democratic" and "unprofessional."

The Greek government said the closure was an essential measure to help meet the country's debt bailout obligations.

Viewers watching the news on the main TV channel saw the screens go to black late on Tuesday evening.

Journalists however refused to leave the building and online and satellite broadcasts are being maintained with the help of the EBU website.

The Greek government called ERT a "haven of waste" and said they would relaunch it as a smaller, independent public broadcaster.

"ERT is a case of an exceptional lack of transparency and incredible extravagance. This ends now," said government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou.

ERT, which began broadcasting in 1938, is funded by a direct payment of 4.30 Euros (£3.80) added monthly to electricity bills.

It ran three domestic TV channels, four national radio stations, as well regional radio stations and an external service, Voice of Greece.

Since its sudden closure, nearly 2,700 workers have lost their jobs, but they will be able to apply to work for the new corporation.

Employees have protested outside the building since Tuesday and it has also sparked a 24-hour general strike in the country.

The Greek government has pledged to cut thousands of public-sector jobs in order to receive billions of euros in rescue loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Petition urges Greece to reopen ERT
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Opera restored after 200 years

Opera restored after 200 years

14 June 2013 Last updated at 16:46

Luigi Cherubini may have used shoe polish to cover up parts of his score

The original ending has been restored to a 216-year-old opera after the manuscript was put through one of the world's most advanced X-ray machines.

Italian composer Luigi Cherubini wrote Medee in 1797 - but blacked out the final aria on the original score.

Beethoven was said to have regarded Cherubini as his greatest contemporary.

Now scientists from the University of Manchester and Stanford University have used X-ray equipment to "see" under the blacked-out part to the notes below.

According to the researchers, Cherubini may have blacked out the final lines after critics complained that the opera was too long.

The X-ray exposed the areas that had previously been covered up (in blue)

The opera was composed using an ink containing traces of iron, but the last page was smudged out using a different substance containing no traces of metal.

That meant equipment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in the US could "see" through the top layer to the original markings below.

The team included Dr Roy Wogelius, a geochemist from The University of Manchester who normally uses such equipment to examine 150 million-year-old fossils.

"We talk about unlocking the secrets of chemical ghosts. That's what we do with fossils and this is the same thing. This is the ghost of Cherubini - we have resurrected his pen strokes," he told BBC News.

"It resurrects the score absolutely brilliantly - you can see everything. You can see the text, the notation for the different instruments and the lyrics that are written in."

Mapping light

The composer covered up the final section with a cheap black substance that "might have been something he was using to polish his shoes", Dr Wogelius said.

"Using visible light, we can't see through it," he said. "It's exactly as if somebody took shoe polish to a newspaper. You can't see anything.

"But because it's a different type of ink, it has different metals in it. We use X-rays to excite the metals in the ink so the inks produce their own light, and we map the light that the inks produce.

"So the carbon black disappears and we only see the trace metals - the zinc, iron and potassium pop out. You can see the composer's ink beautifully underneath the carbon black. It was one of the most rewarding and amazing scans we've ever done."

Between 1817 and 1823, Beethoven repeatedly called Cherubini the greatest living composer and Brahms considered Medee the epitome of dramatic music.

Opera restored after 200 years
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Mumford bassist leaves hospital

Mumford bassist leaves hospital

By Nesta McGregor
Newsbeat entertainment reporter Mumford & Sons bassist Ted Dwane has been released from hospital

Mumford & Sons bassist Ted Dwane has been released from hospital after an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain.

"The surgery went well, and the excellent medical team helping him are very pleased with his progress," a statement on the band's official Facebook page read.

The 28-year-old was taken to hospital earlier this week after being described as 'feeling unwell' for several days.

Continue reading the main story

He has been nothing short of heroic in how he has handled the whole ordeal

Mumford & Sons on bandmate Ted Dwane's condition

"He has been nothing short of heroic in how he has handled the whole ordeal," the letter continued.

Mumford & Sons have also cancelled the remaining dates on their North America, Summer Stampede tour.

"If we could've we would've, you know that about us," the band said.

"We trust that you can respect our collective desire to encourage Ted to make a full recovery, and that this is based purely on the medical advice we have received."

As things stand the indie folk group are still scheduled to perform at Glastonbury at the end of June.

Mumford & Sons win album of the year at the Grammy awards

Mumford & Sons have enjoyed huge success in the States since the release of their second album Babel in September last year.

It was the fastest-selling record of 2012 in the US and it won the Grammy for album of the year in February.

They haven't been ignored back home either, picking up this year's Brit for best British album and Babel was the fastest-selling record in the UK in 2012 as well.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter.

Mumford bassist leaves hospital
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Man held over Tulisa 'harassment'

Man held over Tulisa 'harassment'

14 June 2013 Last updated at 11:43

Tulisa Contostavlos was a judge on ITV's The X Factor in 2011 and 2012

A man has been arrested on suspicion of harassing former X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos in the grounds of her Hertfordshire mansion.

The arrest related to activity outside a woman's house in Brookman's Park on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Police said a 24-year-old man from Stamford Hill, north London was held on Wednesday and "served a first warning".

He was released without further action and "all parties involved are satisfied with this", Hertfordshire police said.

Tulisa's management declined to comment.

The 24-year-old former N-Dubz singer was herself arrested last week, on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs. She was bailed until next month.

The arrest followed a story by a Sunday newspaper.

Man held over Tulisa 'harassment'
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Aerosmith duo join Hall of Fame

Aerosmith duo join Hall of Fame

14 June 2013 Last updated at 10:05

Tyler and Perry performed Walk This Way at the ceremony in New York's Times Square

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry have officially taken their place in the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Sir Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin were among the stars at the 44th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony in New York on Thursday.

The Class of 2013 was made up of Tyler and Perry, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Holly Knight, JD Souther and Neighbours composer Tony Hatch.

Sir Elton and Taupin received the Johnny Mercer award.

"When you get an Ivor Novello award or an American songwriter's award, it means so much more than a Grammy because this is where the whole process starts," said Sir Elton.

The duo behind tracks such as Rocket Man and Candle in the Wind, were cited by Sting as "my two heroes", as he opened the ceremony with a performance of their hit song Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting .

Nickelback were on hand to perform a rendition of Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion at the ceremony, while Tyler and Perry performed Walk This Way.

"I love that Joe and I are getting inducted tonight because we put our nose to the grindstone. We can't get harmony if everybody is singing the same note," said Tyler.

"It means that people are listening to what we're doing," added Perry. "Like Steven said, we're always under the hood working, or we're on the road, whatever. That's what the band is, it's work, and we're doing it."

Neighbours composer Tony Hatch had a long and fruitful collaboration with Petula Clark

Petula Clark performed Downtown, one of the many hits written and produced by Britain's Tony Hatch, arguably best known in the UK for co-writing the theme tunes to TV soaps Neighbours, Crossroads and the original Emmerdale Farm.

Smokey Robinson - who is recovering from inflamed vocal chords prompting a two-month break from performing - debuted part of a new song he wrote about Berry Gordy, who he called his "mentor, brother, sometimes dad and best friend".

"On the very first day of Motown, when Berry Gordy started Motown, there were five people there, and he sat us down. He said 'we are not just going to make black music; we are going to make music for everybody. We're gonna make music for the world. We're always going to make quality music with great stories and great beats.'

"And thank God, that's what we did."

The night also paid tribute to Hal David, who died last year, and Phil Ramone, who died in March.

Aerosmith duo join Hall of Fame
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