A theme park less than two hours away from the UK is adding a brand-new land with two rides and five Japanese-inspired eateries.
Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen will open the area in a few weeks’ time with “thrilling adventures for the whole family.”
Tivoli Gardens is opening up its new Japan-themed land later this monthCredit: AlamyThe new area is called Hikari and will have two new attractionsCredit: Anne-Sophie Rosenvinge/@asrosenvinge
The theme park, which opened in the 1840s and even inspired the creation of Disneyland, currently has 30 rides and will be adding a few more.
Called Hikari, the upcoming Japan-themed area is the biggest development in the park’s history and said to cost a ‘three-digit million amount’.
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It has been under construction for two years and has actually been made up of elements from Japan.
It has reclaimed doors, windows, artwork and around 60 tonnes of traditional Japanese roof tiles.
It will span across more than 2,000 square metres – the park itself is 80,000 square metres in total.
There are two new attractions, the first is Hotel Hikari where ‘nothing is quite as it seems’.
It’s essentially an immersive family funhouse with illusions, a vortex tunnel, tilted rooms and infinity mirrors.
Another new attraction is called Typhoons Eye which gives riders the feeling of weightlessness. According to Tivoli, it’s the only attraction of its kind in Scandinavia.
The zero gravity attraction is a rotating drum ride that suspends riders against the wall as the floor drops away.
The final ride in Hikari is actually one that will be familiar to previous visitors.
The Demon rollercoaster has undergone a transformationCredit: Alamy Stock Photo
Called The Demon, the rollercoaster has stood in Tivoli for years but has undergone a transformation to blend into its new home.
There aren’t just rides either, there are five new eateries in Hikari.
Yaki-Tak! will serve up Japanese street food from yakitori skewers to yakisoba noodles.
Katsu Kitchen is where visitors can pick up chicken sandwiches to popcorn-style karaage to crispy prawns.
The new attraction has taken two years to buildCredit: Tivoli GardensVisitors can grab tasty street food and treats from its eateriesCredit:
Hikari will have three attractions and five eateries
Comé Rice Kitchen will have onigiri, otherwise known as Japanese rice balls, served with the likes of spicy tuna, Teriyaki chicken and shiitake mushroom.
For sweet treats there’s Oishii Bubbles for creative drinks from fruit teas to slushies, or Kawaii Bites will have fish-shaped waffles and mochi ice cream.
Two new shops will open too; one selling Japanese-style ceramics and gifts, another will have a mix of snacks, drinks as it’s inspired by konbini, Japanese convenience shops.
The project has taken two years to build and will open later this month – no official date has been announced yet.
For anyone who wants to visit, Copenhagen is easy to get to as it’s under two hours away from the UK.
Inspired by Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
I visited Istanbul because of Murder on the Orient Express,even though the city only makes a fleeting appearance in the novel.
In fact, one of the things I love about Agatha Christie is that she doesn’t fart about with long descriptions of place. Part of the charm of her detective novels is that they are welterweights, all knotty muscle and six-packs, feinting one way then smacking you in the chops with an unexpected revelation. An extra stone of description would kill that energy.
And it’s possible to read Murder on the Orient Expressand miss how important the city is, both to the novel and its author. Christie is a master of misdirection and buried clues. Even her autobiography is notably guarded about her personal life. She doesn’t hide the fact, however, that her first trip to Istanbul was a landmark. She went as a solo traveller after her first marriage broke down and the city became the starting point for her life’s second chapter.
She often stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel and allegedly wrote a draft of Murder on the Orient Expressin one of its rooms. Pera Palace is still going; its suite 411 is named in Christie’s honour and kitted out with an antique typewriter and copies of her novels. From Istanbul, Christie undertook intrepid overland adventures to the Middle East. Amazingly, in those days you could travel from Haydarpaşa station on the city’s Anatolian side all the way to Baghdad, Mosul and Tehran.
Marcel Theroux in Pera Palace Hotel, Istanbul.
One Easter egg buried in the pages of Murder on the Orient Expressis the name of the hotel that Poirot visits in its second chapter: the Tokatlian. Christie is so sparing with details that this really stands out. The handsome facade of the Tokatlian is still intact. You can read the name carved on the masonry of its upper storeys, but today it houses shops and offices. It couldn’t be more central: it stands on a corner of İstiklal Avenue, the long, pedestrianised thoroughfare that runs through the heart of the Beyoğlu district. At one end is Taksim Square; at the other, the Tünel, the amazing Victorian funicular that is the second-oldest underground railway in the world, after the London Underground.
I sneaked into the Tokatlian and had an underwhelming wander: the hotel shut down many years ago. But once upon a time, this was the place to stay in Istanbul. It’s where Christie herself spent her first nights in the city. In her autobiography, she describes going to a restaurant on a nearby backstreet run by White Russians. That is almost certainly Rejans, renamed Istanbul 1924, and still doing good business serving Russian-inspired food and flavoured vodka.
Poirot doesn’t stay the night in Istanbul. He barely has time for a bath and a bowl of soup before he has to get across the Golden Horn to Sirkeci station and catch the 9pm train to Paris, which he finds mysteriously crowded. That train doesn’t run any longer, sadly, but the echoing interior of Sirkeci and its fetching pink facade give you a tantalising flavour of what it must have been like to travel by train in that era.
One thing that’s clear is that Christie knows far more about Istanbul than she makes explicit in Murder on the Orient Express. She doesn’t show off any local knowledge; there’s not a glimpse of a hammam or a mosque, no one smoking a shisha, no sense of Turkish food – or any food for that matter. But the book is still rooted in Istanbul and an intriguingly understated introduction to it.
Istanbul’s unique geography and blended cultures shape the opening chapters. Christie perfectly understands the logistics involved in moving Poirot around the city. And just as she leaves clues that enable an alert reader to solve the mysteries in her novels, she drops hints at what it is that makes Istanbul special. This is a gift: her reticence leaves anyone travelling in her footsteps free to make their own discoveries. Marcel Theroux
Yukon and Alaska
Inspired by Jack London’s The Call of the Wild
A grizzly bear in Yukon, Canada. Photograph: Robert Postma/Getty Images/Design Pics RF
I came to Jack London through Mr Hill, the best English teacher I ever had, and so from early on a love of the North – breathlessly capitalised – and a love of words went hand in hand. It’s the story of Buck, a Californian house dog, abducted to work pulling sledges in the Yukon gold rush who, chapter by chapter, frees himself from the shackles of civilisation.
I liked Buck but it was the Yukon that held me. “The stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow.” Here was the midnight sun and endless spruce forest, the noble wolf and 50 degrees below, and solitary men grinding a living from the land. It was a place that seemed impossibly distant, not only in space but in time.
I made it there two decades later. I spent five months paddling the length of the Yukon River, from its source in the Pelly Mountains. It was a place of superlatives. The river is 2,000 miles long and, where it meets the Bering Sea, some of its channels can be seven miles from bank to bank.
Rereading the book this past week, placenames that once sounded like invocations have become familiar to me: Five Fingers, Little Salmon, Sixtymile. Outside Circle City, where Buck attacked the troublemaker Black Burton in a bar, I saw my first grizzly. In Dawson, where in a wager Buck pulled a sled that weighed 1,000lbs, I visited London’s cabin, or the half that remained (the other is on display in California).
Adam Weymouth at the rear of a canoe on the Tatchun River, Yukon. Photograph: Peter Mather
London spent fewer than nine months in Dawson, and most of those in bed with scurvy. His experience of this “Northland”, as he calls it, is not the one of the characters he beatifies. What he wrote was an idea, a backdrop for forging a new version of oneself. These lands were “new and naked”, operating under the “law of club and fang”, an ongoing tussle between the outsiders who had come into the country and the wild nature that they found there. Apart from their role in the tragic denouement, Indigenous people scarcely get a mention. If anything, they are one more facet of this wild nature to be contested, rather than people who built a communal, grounded life here for millennia before the rest of the world showed up.
As I travelled in the Yukon, and met the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and the Tlingit tribes, and heard about the terrible legacies of the gold rush, I came to better see through London’s fantasy. Yet I could not deny its lure. I could have moved to the Yukon in a heartbeat. “I may never in my life get to Alaska,” wrote the US essayist Edward Abbey, “but I am grateful that it’s there.” London’s writing acknowledges that need for such escape in all of us. For conjuring the seed that first led me to that place, it’s a book that I’ll always hold dear. Adam Weymouth
South of France
Inspired by Françoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse
Menton on the Côte d’Azur. Photograph: Kirk Fisher
It was 1964 and I was a bored 15-year-old in Basingstoke. I’d already discovered that literature could be scandalous. A couple of years earlier, my girlfriends and I hid behind the rattan sofa in the living room of one of the more “alternative” family homes after school and read out the rude bits in Lady Chatterley’s Lover. When I got my hands on a copy of Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novella Bonjour Tristesse, labelled a succès de scandale by the French press and literary establishment, I was away. Away from my dull, small country town existence and my equally boring family.
I wanted to be French, like the protagonist, 17-year-old Cécile; I wanted to sit in a Paris cafe. I wanted to discuss philosophy with elegant adults while drinking an aperitif and smoking a Gauloises (untipped). My list of wants was endless. I dreamed of staying in a white-walled villa on the Côte d’Azur, the sun burning through the bedroom window on my bare body, gauzy curtains blowing in the warm wind. Not icy patterns on the inside of the glass in a semi on a new-build estate in Hampshire. I wanted warm caressing sea and hot sand, not the freezing English Channel and painful pebbles. I wanted to ride in an open-topped car along the corniche dressed in a Givenchy cocktail dress and Cartier jewellery to casinos, not a Westward Ho! holiday camp in the same hand-knit, turquoise sweater as my brothers. I wanted to be treated as an equal by grownups and live my life in dangerous colour. I wanted to write a hedonistic novel of shocking immorality – as Françoise did at 18. And I wanted to not be a virgin.
By 1969, I had an artist boyfriend and was staying in the apartment of a schoolfriend’s film-star uncle in Paris. So many boxes ticked! I marvelled at the sophistication of Parisienne women, swooned at the lemony chewing-gum smell of the Métro and the soft whoosh of the trains with different classes of carriage, the beauty of the regimented Tuileries. We bought baguettes and croissants and learned how to tear them apart to eat à la française, the proper way. Because in Paris it seemed there was a proper way for everything.
Elaine Kingett in Cap d’Antibes in 1979.
It was in 1971 that I finally got to the Côte d’Azur, to Port Grimaud and Saint-Tropez, and found the France I’d been searching for: heat, blinding sunlight, blue sky and sea. Sunbathing topless, covered in baby oil, reading Valley of the Dolls and smoking Gitanes. The pan bagnat, moules farcies and frites. The celebration of indulgence and liberation, such a contrast to the rules and regs of Paris.
In 1979, my husband and I were back there, on holiday with a load of friends, staying in a white-walled villa with two grand pianos in Cap d’Antibes, driving an open-topped, gold Beetle. And that’s where I conceived my longed-for first child, after dinner one night at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Seems dreams can come true. Now I just need to write that novel … Elaine Kingett Elaine runs writing holidays in Spain
Kyrgyzstan
Inspired by Chinghiz Aitmatov’s The White Ship
Rukh Ordo cultural complex. Photograph: Marina Pissarova/Alamy
The smoky smell of grilled meat drifted out of cafes and over sunbathers, swimmers and a group of elderly ladies dressed in sun hats selling dacha-grown berries by the bucket-load. After a long, hard winter in Kyrgyzstan, life looked sweet on Central Asia’s “beach”, sand-fringed Issyk-Kul, the world’s second largest mountain lake after the Andes’ Titicaca.
This visit in 2011 wasn’t my first to Kyrgyzstan but it was the first time I’d dipped my toes into the lake’s frigid water. I’d wanted to do so ever since reading The White Ship(first published in 1970 and translated by Mirra Ginsburg) by Chinghiz Aitmatov, who was born in a village in the north-west of Kyrgyzstan in 1928.
In the story, a lonely seven-year-old boy – abandoned by his divorced parents – dreams of morphing into a fish. That way he can better look out for his father who, he believes, captains the white ship that sails on Issyk-Kul. This moving novel, in which the lake features heavily, reads like a fable, mixing in Kyrgyz legends, clans and myths. There are many references, for example, to the “horned Mother Deer”; the Bugu clan – Kyrgyzstan has 40 historical tribes, each represented by a sun ray on the national flag – consider their earliest ancestor to be a deer.
One of the first people I met at Cholpon-Ata, the busiest stretch of the shoreline, was a Russian woman, a factory manager from an industrial city in Siberia, who was visiting Kyrgyzstan with her family. She told me that she’d just tried a fresh peach, rather than a canned one, for the first time. I have never forgotten the pleasure that spread across her face as she described it to me. She also believed that the environment – fresh mountain air and the lake’s slightly saline properties – to be health-giving, good for her asthmatic son. Just as in Aitmatov’s book, the lake was expected to offer hope and perhaps answers. Above us, paragliders hovered in the cloudless sky.
Caroline Eden with a statue of Chinghiz Aitmatov. Photograph: Caroline Eden
Issyk-Kul in summer remained a place of simple pleasures, of buckets and spades, sandcastles and blow-up beach balls. Only the backdrop of the chocolate-brown mountains of the Tian Shan range hinted at our altitude of 1,600 metres (5,270ft). Once I’d had enough sun, and enjoyed the cooling effects of fresh cherries and a Baltika beer, I set off to nearby Rukh Ordo, an open-air museum also on the lake.
The museum, pitched as a spiritual centre promoting world peace and respect for different religions, was a place to wander, with chapels and yurts scattered along the shore. Pleasingly, I learned that after Aitmatov’s death in 2008, Rukh Ordo was dedicated to his memory. Before getting a bus back to the town of Karakol, where I’d based myself, I found a statue of him and had my photograph taken alongside it. A final personal tribute to Kyrgyzstan’s beloved literary son. Caroline Eden
Cornwall
Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek
Landmark Trust have a holiday cottage at the head of Frenchman’s Creek. Photograph: John Miller
I first read Frenchman’s Creek aged 12 or 13. I can’t recall how it came into my orbit; maybe it was on the bookshelves at home, or one of my worldly aunts pressed it into my hands. The effect was instant. From the dreamy, almost hallucinogenic opening chapter, I was swept up in this girls’ own adventure, gasping aloud at the daring feats of our sassy heroine, Lady Dona St Columb, as she escapes her stodgy husband and their feckless court life in Restoration-era London.
Retreating to their Cornish estate with her two children, she discovers their long-neglected country house is being used as a base for a wanted man – a French pirate (of the passionate, artistic variety, natch). They embark on a wild and dangerous romance in and around the Helford River, as she joins him on board his ship, even dressing as a cabin boy to launch raids on the oafish locals. But when her husband and his friends show up, determined to hunt down her swashbuckling lover, she must make a choice – sacrifice him to certain death, or risk her own life to save him.
As an adventure-hungry teen, it wasn’t just the bold Dona and her below-decks antics that lured me in, but the almost physical immersion in the setting. Like all Du Maurier’s novels, Frenchman’s Creek employs all the senses to transport the reader, conjuring a mysterious, untamed Cornwall that bore no resemblance to the muddy campsites and ice-cream vans of my childhood holidays. Here was a lawless land of secret tributaries, hidden pools and wooded riverbanks where anything could happen.
Reading the novel again recently (and still gasping at every turn), I was inspired to finally make my pilgrimage, summoning the spirit of Dona as I headed west from London.
Frenchman’s Creek is a real place. It’s about 15 miles south of Falmouth, part of a ria – a flooded river valley open to the sea – described in the book as “a narrow inlet, branching from the parent river, its short, twisting course running westward into a valley”. Nowadays it’s owned by the National Trust and apart from a few tastefully placed signs and footpath markers, it remains its enchanted self, unchanged from how it would have appeared to the novel’s 17th-century characters. It’s more accessible now, with a 3.8-mile circular walk from the village of Helford following the creek itself. Through the trees you can glimpse the sailing boats anchored in the main channel and it’s easy to imagine Dona wandering among the oaks, spying the white sails of the pirate ship hidden up the creek, her heart pounding as she descends to the water’s edge.
Lois Pryce reading Frenchman’s Creek in a creek.
Du Maurier excels not only at setting and plot but also at subversive female characters. Written in 1941 as an escape from the grim realities of war, and reflecting her own resistance to domesticity, the novel’s themes of female lust, infidelity and disregard for maternal duties would have been controversial, even shocking. Refreshingly, Du Maurier never attempts to justify or apologise for her protagonist’s actions.
This is a book that deserves to be read breathlessly in one sitting, far from the distractions of the modern world. Fortunately for today’s reader, there’s a remote holiday cottage owned by the Landmark Trust, tucked away in the woods at the head of the creek, with no wifi or phone signal. Ask yourself, what would Dona do? Lois Pryce
Dervla Murphy’s A Place Apart persuaded me to see Northern Ireland differently. Cycling through the country during the Troubles, she looked beyond headlines to find generosity and ordinary lives. Following in her footsteps, you can walk the walls of Derry and stand beside the Giant’s Causeway, where the landscapes are every bit as striking as she described. Yet it is the people you remember most. Conversations begin easily in pubs and cafes, with local people quick to recommend a favourite beach or walk. I went looking for the places Murphy described. I left with the conversations she promised I’d find. James
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Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Inspired by Priscilla Morris’s Black Butterflies
Photograph: Aleksandr Medvedkov/Shutterstock
I read Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris during a long, hot Covid afternoon and was immediately intrigued by the city of Sarajevo. The book is set during the siege, but I was captivated by the description of the buildings mixing east and west. Last year, I finally went and experienced the beautiful city for myself. The surrounding mountains and the old town, mixed with haunting memories unapologetically left in view by way of bullet holes in buildings and “roses” in the pavement [to mark where mortars fell], gave off a unique atmosphere. There are hints of old Eastern European glamour, Middle Eastern rituals and precious hope for the richness of a hard peace to remain in place. It’s a place that took my heart and showed me that it’s OK, things change but we carry the memories for a reason. Louise
Porquerolles, France
Inspired by Georges Simenon’s My Friend Maigret
Photograph: Telly/Shutterstock
As a Georges Simenon fan, I had always enjoyed the novel My Friend Maigret, set on the island of Porquerolles off the French Mediterranean coast. Nearing 80 years old, I decided it was now or never to visit and resolved to travel by train. So, it was Eurostar to Gare du Nord, RER across Paris to Gare de Lyon, then on to Toulon (despite missing my booked train), a slow train to Hyères, a bus to the port and a boat to Porquerolles. Visiting the sites described in the novel was such a pleasure. I became “Porquerolled” and an addict of the unique atmosphere (and the island wine). Leigh
San Francisco
Inspired by Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City
Photograph: Chris LaBasco/Shutterstock
It has to be Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series. Originally a daily serial in the San Francisco Chronicle, these wonderful novels paint the city as a place of kindness, beauty and pleasure. It made me and my wife Nic commit to two years of saving so we could live like the Barbary Lane gang for a fortnight. San Francisco didn’t disappoint. Weird, gorgeous and fascinating, it’s a city that rewards ambling and curiosity, just as Maupin suggests. Fraser
Orkney, Scotland
Inspired by Amy Liptrot’s The Outrun
Photograph: Harald Schmidt/Shutterstock
I read The Outrun by Amy Liptrot and went on to have a wonderful three-week holiday in Orkney and Shetland. I travelled solo and met the best of people. I stayed in Amy’s mum Jane’s B&B and she took me birdwatching. It was a time to recover from a challenging year and enjoy the peace and beauty of the islands while never feeling lonely. I spent a week in the Papay hostel and walked all around the island. My sister lives in Shetland now and I plan to return soon. Amanda
Bognor Regis, England
Inspired by RC Sherriff’s The Fortnight in September
Photograph: Eye Ubiquitous/Alamy
The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff, written in the heyday of British seaside holidays, harks back to a time when resorts like Bognor Regis were magical summer destinations that an ordinary family would look forward to all year. The descriptions of the bandstand, beach and lovely walks inspired a trip to Bognor to retrace the family’s steps. Bognor may have seen better days, but it was a perfect base for days out in the Sussex countryside, and there’s still little to beat a stroll along the promenade of this fading seaside town, sun shining and ice-cream in hand. Patricia
Provence, France
Inspired by Émile Zola’s Contes Choisis
Photograph: Serts/Getty Images
While studying French A-level back in the 80s, I read Émile Zola’s Contes Choisis short stories, which made me long to explore Provence. I loved the book, and its visual descriptions made me hanker to see the area for myself. More than 10 years later, I finally got to visit the area, by which time I’d also discovered the works of Cézanne and Matisse. Provence was a glorious feast for all the senses. I have visited a few times now and am always impressed by the beauty. I still have my book, and it is a wonderful reminder of the inspiration of A-levels. Sandra
The Apennines, Italy
Inspired by Eric Newby’s Love and War in the Apennines
Eric Newby’s Love and War in the Apennines inspired my wife and I to spend a month hiking in the mountainous area running the length of central Italy. Newby’s praise for the brave honest people who sheltered him, as a fleeing prisoner of war, in stone cottages and freezing farmyard barns was uplifting. They helped him learn Italian, and the book also delights in showing how he met his wife Wanda, an Italian-Slovenian woman, while hiding from the Nazis. Newby depicts loving, tight communities in towns like Fiumalbo, which we enjoyed visiting and where we were given a warm welcome. When we mentioned Signor Newby and showed his book, we were met with smiles by local people. It felt like we were part of an appreciative, heartfelt legacy created by the writer and those he met. Peter
Naples
Inspired by Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend
Photograph: Alessandro Tortora/Getty Images
In 2018, after devouring the novel My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, my lifelong friend and I decided to visit Naples. The book explores two childhood friends who bonded and grew up in various edgy neighbourhoods around Naples in the 50s, exploring social class and poverty. Naples has always had a bad press, focusing on crime and shabbiness. We had wonderful times visiting the places mentioned in the book. We felt safe, were welcomed and fed. Chiaia is mentioned in the book as a waterfront renowned for its promenade along Via Francesco Caracciolo. Carol
Prince Edward Island, Canada
Inspired by LM Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables
Photograph: James Schwabel/Alamy
My favourite childhood books, read countless times, were the Anne of Green Gables series by LM Montgomery, set in a rural community on Prince Edward Island, Canada. The snowy winters, enchanting woods, winding country lanes, and red sandstone cliffs along the coast captured my imagination, leaving a lasting impression. At the age of 44, I made the journey there myself. My first day was a bitter disappointment, with torrential rain and thick mist obscuring the island’s beauty from dawn until dusk. However, the second day more than made up for it. Under clear skies, I enjoyed a perfect coastal boardwalk, a truly magical visit to Green Gables itself, and finished the day with a wonderful lobster meal. Katharine
KATY PERRY is on tour across Europe and her No1 groupie – former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – has been a regular at her shows.
I can reveal he has spent his whole summer following her around on tour, and even brought friends to Europe to spend time on a yacht in between her concerts.
Katy Perry headlined the famous Isle of MTV concert in Malta on Wednesday, and Justin Trudeau was there cheering her onCredit: Shutterstock EditorialSmitten Trudeau has spent his whole summer following her around on tourCredit: Supplied
The superstar headlined the famous Isle of MTV concert in Malta on Wednesday — Europe’s largest free concert — and he was there cheering her on.
And we will soon be hearing a lot more from Katy, as I’m told she’s almost completed work on her eighth album, which has been inspired by moving on from long-term partner Orlando Bloom and finding love again with the politician.
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That might be a surprise after the recent release of her singles Bandaids and Watch It Burn, which were written early last year and on which she gave Orlando both barrels. But now she’s done with writing break-up songs, telling the Unfamous podcast: “I know the next step I’m going to take.
“Watch It Burn, actually I didn’t need to do a whole EP of this feeling. But I needed to touch it and circle it.
“And now I’m moving on and I’m going to be writing something that is going to represent what I’m feeling now.
“I have to process it. This is my therapy.
“This is my art.”
Wednesday’s concert attracted a crowd of 30,000 fans to Il-Fosos Square for the 18th year of Isle of MTV Malta, staged in partnership with Malta Tourism Authority.
Fans recording the moment Katy sings to themCredit: Shutterstock EditorialKaty wows in white as she is carried on to the stageCredit: Shutterstock
Justin was seen bopping along to her biggest hits from the lighting tower, and she called out to him three times from the stage.
Before singing I’m His, He’s Mine, Katy, who was wearing a vintage costume she wore for an MTV VMAs advert in 2009, gushed: “I’m gonna dedicate this one to my boyfriend.
“I love when he comes to my shows, it always makes me so happy.
“I love you, baby.”
The superstar belting out a song with muscle-bound dancersCredit: ShutterstockKaty wearing her vintage costume at the Isle of MTV Malta gigCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
My insider said: “Katy is the happiest she has ever been now that she’s with Justin and she wants to reflect that in the music.
“The end of her relationship with Orlando was one of the hardest things she’s been through but she doesn’t want to dwell on it with the music.
“It’s about owning who she is and holding her head high.
“Justin feels like her soulmate and it’s been really inspiring for her.
“Most of the new album was recorded at the beginning of the year.
“The title Scorpio Bitch was discussed for the album but that’s likely to change as she doesn’t want to come off as too spiky.
“The album is almost done, she’s really proud of what she’s been working on.”
On stage, she was like an excitable, giddy teenager as she called out to him.
So I imagine it will be her most loved-up record ever.
IF you missed out on the chance to see Katy Perry on tour over the past year, you’ll soon be able to catch up on two of her live shows.
Her huge Isle of MTV Malta show will air on MTV on September 18 – showcasing her Out Of Office summer show, which she also performed at Blenheim Palace and Cardiff Castle earlier this month.
But that’s not all. Katy’s concert film The Lifetimes Tour: Live From Paris – recorded during her previous tour last year – is coming to 150 UK cinemas on September 2.
The two-hour film features footage of her singing her biggest hits as part of one of her most ambitious tours ever, plus there’s exclusive backstage footage included.
The tour reached more than one million fans during 91 shows in 23 countries, and raised almost £82,000 for the Music Venue Trust in the UK.
TOM TO KNOCK ‘EM DREAD
Tom Holland said he’s filled with ‘dread’ as he moves forward with his Fred Astaire biopicCredit: Getty
TOM HOLLAND is finally moving forward with his Fred Astaire biopic – but said he’s filled with “dread”.
Five years after revealing he’d be playing the actor and dancer, the Spider-Man star has started rehearsals and is determined to do all the dancing himself.
Speaking on US telly, Tom, who is currently on the promo trail for both The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, said: “What I love about my job is the challenges. We have Fred Astaire next. As soon as I finish these tours, I’m diving back into the dance studio.
“I did my first few rehearsals recently and it both filled me with excitement and absolute dread because I’ve got so much work to do to try to do Fred proud.”
He added he has “a desire to use no doubles” and shoot the dances in one shot as Fred would have done.
K-POP girl group AESPA are hitting up Pinkpantheress in the hope of a collaboration.
WINTER from the group said: “I’d love to work with PinkPantheress. I love the atmosphere she creates in her music. Bringing her style together with aespa’s could lead to something really fresh.”
JOANNE HAS VAPE ESCAPE
Joanne Mcnally started vaping in the Celebrity Traitors castle, meaning producers had to interveneCredit: Getty
The comedian admitted puffing on an e-cig during filming, which meant producers had to intervene, as it can’t be shown on air.
She admitted: “I remember we were chatting, having a real deep and meaningful.
“And they cut filming. They’re like, ‘Joanne, you can’t vape in the castle’.
“I was really into this conversation, pulling on this vape. Because you feel relaxed in the castle.”
Asked if she forgot the cameras were there, she told the Bottom’s Up podcast: “Totally. And I always thought that was horses**t when I’d watch Big Brother before.
“I was like, ‘As if you could forget the cameras were there’. But you do, actually.”
I hope it doesn’t lead to her being smoked out when it airs in the autumn.
BURLESQUE The Musical’s UK tour will not open at Woking Theatre tomorrow, with the week-long run being cancelled just 48 hours before it was due to start.
The show starring Corrie’s Faye Brooks, has been plagued with a series of issues and is now scheduled to launch on August 6 at the Sunderland Empire. The London run has been postponed to 2027.
HEEL AND BACK FOR JACOB
JACOB ELORDI has revealed he broke both heels earlier this year.
The 6ft 5in actor said he “jumped off something” and suffered the painful injury – forcing him to withdraw as a juror at Cannes Film Festival.
Speaking on US TV the Wuthering Heights star said: “I broke both my heels earlier this year. I jumped off something.”
It happened as Nate Jacobs, his character in Euphoria, was having his toes and fingers cut in graphic scenes on the show.
Jacob, who is dating Kendall Jenner, added: “I was in a cast and a moon boot at the same time Nate was getting his digits cut off.
“Everyone thought it was hilarious, like, ‘Oh, method acting!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I cut my f***ing toe off.’”
OASIS DOC GETS VENICE PREMIERE
New documentary, OASIS: Don’t Look Back In Anger will get its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film FestivalCredit: Simon Emmett
The brothers, plus writer Steven Knight and directors Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, are all expected to attend the event which starts on September 2.
Cameras followed Noel and Liam on last year’s worldwide sell-out stadium run, which saw them performing to millions of fans across 41 dates.
The documentary features revealing interviews and the first tentative meeting between the once-warring siblings.
Last year at Venice, docudrama The Voice Of Hind Rajab received the longest standing ovation in the festival’s history – with people clapping for 23 minutes and 50 seconds. Surely, Oasis can beat it.
DESTINY’S CHILD are gearing up to release a new album of unheard remixes, says Beyonce’s dad.
Mathew Knowles, who managed the girl group during their original run, said the project, will feature a collaboration with Missy Elliott. He said: “We have remixes that have never been released and we’ll be putting those out soon.”
IT was 15 years ago today that the shocking news broke that Amy Winehouse had died, aged just 27.
She had released just two albums during her eight-year career, but her massive success and larger-than-life character meant her death sent shockwaves around the world — and today her impact on culture is more apparent than ever.
Amy Winehouse died 15 years ago aged 27, but her influence on music and culture continues to growCredit: Camera PressRaye says Amy’s impact is ‘irreplaceable’ and no one can match what she achievedCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
In music, fashion and art, she has inspired an entire generation of artists. British music is being dominated by women whose sound, style and brand is packed with references to the late superstar.
In recent weeks rapper Cardi B and actress Zendaya have been spotted dressed like Amy, with her trademark beehive hairdo.
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And one artist who is frequently compared with Amy is Raye, who, much like the late singer, has become a celebrated industry darling, thanks to her brassy Motown influences and brutally truthful lyrics.
But Raye feels the weight of comparison more than most, and said: “I’m aware that what she did is irreplaceable and inimitable.
“Amy did it so well that no one can ever do what she did. And, God rest her soul, she gave her whole life for us to enjoy the music that she left behind.”
Like Amy, Raye went to South London creative arts academy The Brit School, whose starry former pupils also include Adele and Olivia Dean.
Raye recalled her years at the school, and how she would walk down the corridors and see photos on the wall of alumni such as Amy and say: “That’s gonna be me one day.”
Amy’s star certainly burned brightly, but all too briefly. Her body was discovered at her home in Camden, North London on July 23, 2011, by her security guard Andrew Morris.
Toxicology reports later revealed her blood alcohol content was five times the legal drink-drive limit, and the coroner’s report stated her “sudden and unexpected” death was caused by misadventure due to alcohol poisoning.
Amy had battled drug addiction for years, inspiring her 2006 single Rehab, but she had got clean from illegal substances before she died.
Lola Young echoes Amy Winehouse’s gritty London style and shares the Rehab star’s former managerCredit: GettyBillie Eilish says Amy ‘changed a whole generation of music’ and inspired countless artistsCredit: Getty
As a fiercely unapologetic woman in the music world, she blazed a trail for a new way to be an artist — and for future star Lola Young, who was just ten years old when Amy died, she was an inspiration.
The One Thing singer carries a gritty London identity similar to Amy’s and produces familiarly confessional lyrics.
She is even managed by Nick Shymansky, the same industry executive who guided Amy’s career during her breakout success.
After Amy, he swore he would never manage another artist, but was so won over by Lola’s talent — and subtle similarities to Amy — that he decided to take her on, and she has since sold millions of records.
When Amy found fame in the Noughties the music landscape was dominated by indie and processed pop, but she forged a new path with her neo-soul, Sixties pop and jazz sound — and now that sound is everywhere.
Olivia Dean’s easy-listening collection The Art Of Loving is on course to be the biggest-selling album in the UK this year, despite the fact it was released last September.
And even more recently, British newcomer Sienna Spiro has followed Amy with her vintage aesthetic and her breakout single Back To Blonde — mirroring Amy’s 2006 album and single Back To Black.
It is paying off, as last week Sienna shot to No2 in the charts with her debut album Visitor.
The impact of Back To Black, Amy’s second album, was felt worldwide. With classic songs such as Rehab and Tears Dry On Their Own, it became the fifth best-selling album of the 21st century so far, shifting 20million copies.
Amy sang about toxic co-dependency, addiction, dating disasters and her flaws, all in graphic detail, then wrapped them up in palatable and catchy songs.
Olivia Dean’s Amy-inspired album The Art Of Loving is on course to be the UK’s biggest seller this yearCredit: Shutterstock EditorialMark Ronson says writing Back To Black with Amy changed his life foreverCredit: Getty
It was all the more interesting for listeners, as her tumultuous personal life, including a rollercoaster relationship with her boyfriend and then husband Blake Fielder-Civil, and her drug use, became front-page news.
The saga taught lessons to youngsters such as future superstar Billie Eilish, who saw the tragedy unfold as she was growing up in California.
She said: “The things that inspire me about Amy are also the kind of things that are sad about it.
“You knew she wasn’t doing anything that she did for attention or in a weird, fake way because from what I gather, she didn’t really want that s**t, you know.
“It showed me that she was kind of raw for what she was creating, and she wasn’t trying to be anything she wasn’t, because she didn’t even want to be that.
“She changed a whole generation of music. Everyone, when listing off the people that inspired them, Amy Winehouse is always in that list.
“Everything about her, she just mixed a whole bunch of stuff together, and created the most beautiful things.”
And it’s not just female fellow stars who are Amy’s admirers.
Mark Ronson, who produced her Back To Black album and co-wrote the song of the same name, has credited Amy with his entire career.
Accepting the Outstanding Contribution to Music prize at February’s Brit Awards, he said his multiple chart-topping collaborations with other artists would never have happened if it wasn’t for her.
Sienna Spiro released Back To Blonde mirroring Amy’s 2006 hitCredit: GettyRapper Cardi B shows off her new Amy-style hairdoCredit: Getty
He said: “I realised on the way here that on Thursday, March 6, it’ll be 20 years to the day that Amy Winehouse came up to my studio in New York City. We went upstairs and talked for four hours and that night we wrote Back To Black, and that day changed my life for ever.”
Mark has since gone on to sell millions of records by working with superstars such as Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Miley Cyrus.
But he added: “I know the music I made with Amy is the reason any of them know who I am anyway. That’s why I’ll always treasure her voice, her talent, our bond, all of it.” And this month The Rolling Stones have celebrated Amy’s legacy by covering her song You Know I’m No Good on new album Foreign Tongues.
Guitarist Keith Richards said: “Loved the song. Always thought that Amy was a sad story in many ways, but she was one of the best to come out of England, and probably had so much more potential.”
Such was her star power, she shared the stage with the Stones at the 2007 Isle of Wight Festival, covering the Temptations’ Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, just four years after releasing her debut album Frank.
Street artist Pegasus was a close friend of Amy’s and launched his career on the day she died.
He has since become famous for his stencilled portraits of the singer, such as his “Fallen Angel” mural near Camden Lock, close to where they used to hang out.
Pegasus, whose real name is Chris Turner, told The Sun: “Amy was one of those people who come along every so often, makes a massive impact, unfortunately isn’t around for long but leaves a lasting legacy.
Her light will always shine bright. Her unique style, her love for the greats, like Etta James, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, introduced and inspired a generation of artists that came after her.
“I am always seeing bits of Amy everywhere and it makes me so proud.”
A great novel can transport you to places you’ve never been, take you on imaginary adventures across the globe and, just occasionally, inspire you to visit a literary location in real life. We’d love to hear about a book you’ve read that led to one of your favourite trips, whether it was somewhere far-flung or close to home.
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Bo Lowrance models his game after Freddie Freeman. So, it’s fitting that the Dodgers selected the 6-foot-5, 200-pound high school infielder — ranked the No. 21 overall prospect by MLB.com — with the 40th pick in the MLB amateur draft on Saturday.
“He’s obviously a first baseman, and I’m on the left side, so defensively a little different,” Lowrance said of Freeman during a conference call with media. “But he’s still unbelievably athletic, and a big thing that I’ve watched for years is his approach and how he uses the whole field. … [Freeman is] somebody that I’m always trying to emulate.”
Lowrance hit .435 with 12 home runs last season at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, S.C.
A left-handed batter and right-handed thrower like Freeman, Lowrance is expected to develop as a shortstop — noting former Dodger Corey Seager has a “super smooth” defense at 6-4 he hopes to replicate — with a potential role at third, depending on how the prep star grows into his frame.
“Yeah, definitely want to be a shortstop,” Lowrance said. “I believe I’m capable of it. I think I have the glove skills and the athleticism. I think it’s just going to turn into who I want to become at the plate in terms of my overall size and frame. Like, if I ultimately put on a bunch of weight and kind of grow out of the shortstop position, then maybe that’s where that’ll change.”
Lowrance hit it off with the Dodgers’ front office in June at the draft combine in Phoenix.
And even though the Dodgers didn’t exactly see the Freeman comparison Lowrance mentioned, they would be thrilled if he turned out anything like the 10-time All-Star.
“Bo was definitely our main target coming into the day,” Dodgers amateur scouting director Zach Fitzpatrick said. “Probably would have said there’s a pretty low chance we were able to acquire him, had you asked me in the morning. So as the picks start coming off the board and realizing there’s a little bit more opportunity to get him, our excitement level climbed. And then to actually be able to call his name was a home run for us.”
“I’ve been in communication with them for a while,” Lowrance added. “I’ve loved their scouting staff. I have a great relationship with them.”
The Dodgers entered the draft with the smallest bonus pool at $3,951,900; the White Sox had the most cash to work with, boasting $20,489,500.
Fitzpatrick, though, said the Dodgers’ strategy centered around taking the best player available.
The approach carried over into the Dodgers’ second and final pick on the day — Florida right-handed pitcher Russell Sandefer at No. 132.
Sandefer posted a 3-2 record as a junior in 2026 with a 4.42 ERA over 19 games and 12 starts. The Dodgers were intrigued by his repertoire and heat.
“As we dove into Russell throughout the spring, kind of all departments — from scouting and what we saw at the park to our player development group and our analytics group — kind of flagged Russell as very intriguing and then having a lot of upside left,” Fitzpatrick said.
“A starter at Florida, threw a lot of strikes; there’s obviously velocity, there’s a deep mix, and he performed and had some pretty stellar outings along the way that helped us believe in his upside and different ways we can help him access it more consistently.”
Lowrance was happy to be part of the Dodgers’ draft class.
“Just a whole wave of emotions,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful, first off, and couldn’t be more excited. I mean, yeah, I’ve said it already: It’s the best team in baseball, and nobody else that I want to be a part of.
The BBC has produced a number of critically acclaimed and beloved films and TV shows over the years – but one gritty crime drama may have slipped under the radar for many fans
The crime drama follows a teenager who gives his brother’s friends a lift then finds himself charged as an accessory to murder(Image: Tony Blake/BBC/LA Productions)
A “gritty” BBC crime drama has left viewers “heartbroken” but it may well have gone completely unnoticed by some film fans.
The BBC has built a stellar reputation among TV and film enthusiasts thanks to its numerous top-tier productions which continue to be praised long after they first aired. There’s something to suit all tastes, from entertaining and fun sitcoms, steamy storylines and beloved period dramas, to powerful, unflinching crime thrillers, and much more.
Lots of BBC-backed films remain critically celebrated and adored to this day, from 2019’s musical crime drama hit Blue Story, and the thought-provoking Looted, to the 1989 Gary Oldman-led cult crime classic The Firm, and countless others.
The BBC’s television catalogue is equally respected, with the likes of hugely popular police drama Line of Duty, bleak favourite Happy Valley and the tense anthology drama The Missing frequently listed as among the best the broadcaster has produced.
But a 90-minute crime film may have escaped many viewers’ attention – and if you’re partial to hard-edged legal dramas, it’s worth checking out.
It’s the 2014 made-for-television film, Common. It was written by Jimmy McGovern and directed by David Blair. The film stars Nico Mirallegro, Michelle Fairley and Harry Potter alum Michael Gambon.
The storyline follows 17 year old Johnjo O’Shea, portrayed by Mirallegro, who is asked to give his older brother’s friends a lift in his brother’s car to take them to a pizza takeaway.
Unbeknownst to Johnjo, one of his passengers has an ulterior motive for heading to the takeaway – he intends to confront a rival who’ll be there.
A row erupts between one of Johnjo’s passengers and an onlooker, Tommy Ward. Tommy is eventually stabbed and fatally wounded by the passenger.
Johnjo ends up in court charged as an accessory to murder, under the doctrine of common purpose; a component of the UK’s contentious Joint Enterprise legal doctrine which permits multiple people to be prosecuted and found guilty of the same offence – regardless of the different roles they may have played in a crime.
Writer Jimmy McGovern drew inspiration from the actual case of 16 year old Jordan Cunliffe, who received a sentence under this law for a minimum period of 12 years for the murder of Garry Newlove, who was beaten to death in August 2007 after challenging a group of youths outside his home.
Cunliffe was understood to have played no active role in the assault on Newlove.
The film traces the legal proceedings that follow, alongside the consequences and tensions that arise between the various families affected.
On Rotten Tomatoes, viewers have shared their opinions on the somewhat overlooked drama. One fan said: “Actor and storyline driven, this gritty British drama brings a new area of crime and punishment to light.
“Jodhi May stands out, but with many regular British drama faces, this is a tale that leaves no mother without an emotional pull.”
Another viewer wrote: “I thought this was a simple movie, but powerful all the same.”
A third added: “Very well made and acted, but so heartbreaking I never want to see it again.”
Critics were equally impressed, with The Guardian describing it as “a brutal and devastating drama” that’s “bleak, powerful” and “thick with political intent”, though it noted this “occasionally robs it of its quality”.
A NEW Mediterranean-style pop-up beach club is coming to the UK.
The new venue will be bringing summer vibes to Bournemouth with dining domes, beach beds, sunloungers and DJs.
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Palm will open on Bournemouth seafront for the summerCredit: Seventa EventsThe popular UK beach will have a new attraction until SeptemberCredit: Getty
Called ‘Palm’, the Ibiza-style club will open on Bournemouth’s seafront next month.
The seaside town is one of the most sought-after when the sun shines as the golden sandy beach stretches on for seven miles.
For those who know the area, Palm will be a few paces away from Bournemouth Pier on the old WestBeach Restaurant site.
The beach club will be open all day starting at 9am with breakfast and coffee.
I come from a family of priests and devoted Catholics. Catholicism is the blood in my veins. My father was not a disciplinarian, but if you lived under his roof you went to church. Saturday evening or Sunday morning, didn’t matter, you went. My four siblings and I were not miscreants, but we drank beer and sneaked out, and I was once cited for stealing liquor. I can’t recall my father ever yelling at me for anything other than missing Mass.
My great-uncle Dan was a diocesan priest at St. Charles Borromeo in Drexel Hill, Pa. Dan was a fire-and-brimstone hard-liner. Every Thursday we’d gather as a family for a roast beef dinner at my grandmother’s house. Dan would drink Manhattans — plenty — and if someone expressed a view of God contrary to his own, he’d say, “It’s awfully hot down there.” “There” meant hell. My uncle Ed, my mother’s eldest brother, was an Augustinian. Patient, compassionate, inclusive, Ed’s God was very different from Dan’s. While discussing God, Ed would quote Michael Himes, “There is nothing we can do to make God not love us,” and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “Mercy, within Mercy, within Mercy.”
Sports was in my family too — basketball, specifically — and I came to view Dan and Ed as head and assistant coach, respectively. The head coach shouting harsh critiques from the sideline, the assistant coach there to put his arm around you when you made it, crestfallen and ashamed, back to the bench. I loved them both, but I aligned with Ed’s view of God. Dan passed away a decade ago. Ed has since left the priesthood and married a kind and patient woman named Kathy. Over the years, Ed’s views on God have changed drastically. We meet for dinner once a month to talk about life and faith, and it was during one of our conversations that “Task” was born.
Mark Ruffalo in “Task.”
(Peter Kramer / HBO)
Tom Brandis, played by the singular Mark Ruffalo, is a former priest-turned-FBI agent who has lost his faith. Everything he held as truth in his life has come crashing down in the wake of a family tragedy. Tom believes he was called by God to adopt two children, Emily and Ethan. Adopting these children has resulted in the death of his wife, Susan. Matricide. What kind of God allows that? I have struggled with my Catholic faith over the years, but nothing has perplexed me more than the idea of suffering. The poet Archibald MacLeish wrote, “If God is God, He is not good / If God is good, He is not God.” The message is clear: If God is God, the author of everything, then He created evil and suffering and therefore cannot be good.
In “Task,” I wanted to explore a crisis of faith with honesty and without easy answers, because that is exactly how I have found my own faith journey — arduous and circuitous. I believe in God, but I find that belief tested daily. Faith and religion are separable. Tom’s journey in “Task” is a journey of faith. In the fifth episode, Tom is kidnapped by the criminal Robbie Prendergast, played by the brilliant Tom Pelphrey. During a long and tense car ride to the Poconos, Robbie tells Tom that he doesn’t believe in God. Never has. God is an idea conjured to make life bearable. “There’s nothing after this life,” Robbie says. Tom doesn’t argue. His own beliefs have veered in that direction. The car pulls into a secluded, wooded area. Facing death, Tom suddenly wants to call his son, Ethan, and forgive him. Robbie doesn’t allow it. Instead, he walks Tom to the edge of the woods, tells him he’s a decent man, and sets him free. Because Robbie has his own plan: to sacrifice his life in the hopes of providing a better one for his family. It’s through Robbie’s act of mercy that Tom regains faith. He believes in goodness again.
Brad Ingelsby.
(Ian Spanier / For The Times)
In the final episode, Tom finds himself taking care of a young and suddenly parentless boy, Sam. Sam reminds him of his own son, Ethan. Sam wants to live with Tom. And Tom desperately wants Sam to stay with him. But Tom also recognizes that Sam would be better served in the care of a young family capable of meeting his needs. Sam shouldn’t be stuck with an old man like him. Tom lets Sam go; he believes the boy will be taken care of. That is Tom’s act of faith.
When Ed and I met for dinner last month, we talked about how his idea of God has changed over the years. He no longer sees God as a bearded white man tallying our sins and waiting to judge us in heaven. He thought God was everywhere, all the time. The love that exists between people. He thought he could feel God right then, among us at the table as we laughed. We talked about Camp Mystic. The young girls swept away. Why, God?They were there to serve You. We didn’t have any answers. We never do. But the food and wine were good, and we talked about great-uncle Dan, about how he was so different from us but how much we loved him anyway, and how, when he drank Manhattans — plenty — he could turn harsh and opinionated, but it didn’t matter because he loved God. He loved Him with his whole heart, and we thought about the unimpeachable dignity of that and what an amazing gift it would be — to believe and never doubt.
Victor Wembanyama bagged 22 points as San Antonio Spurs defeated defending champions the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, where they will face the New York Knicks.
San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson had called on Wembanyama to score more than 20 points after a disappointing showing in game five.
An inspired 28-point haul by the 22-year-old Frenchman on Friday helped level the best-of-seven series at 3-3 and save his “childhood dream” – which is now within touching distance.
“Winning the Larry O’Brien [NBA championship trophy] is a childhood dream, and having a real shot at it, having a tangible chance at winning it – it’s a lifetime chance,” said Wembanyama after reaching the Finals for the first time.
“You never know when it’s gonna happen again. But the day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day – the realisation of a dream.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
Johnson’s side last won the NBA showpiece in 2014, while the Knicks will compete in the finals for the first time in 27 years.
It will be a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, which San Antonio won in five games for their first of five NBA championships.
Having scored 41 points in game one and 33 points in game four, the number one pick in the 2023 draft showed in the deciding two matches why he was one of the most coveted picks since LeBron James in 2003.
“What I’ve learned is that I can go through hurdles that I didn’t know could get so high,” added Wembanyama.
“I found resources inside of me. Relentlessness. I already knew that, but doing it at this level, this is the best basketball being played on the planet right now. And the crazy thing is I want to do that 15 or 20 more times.”
The NBA Finals series will begin on 3 June, with a possible game seven finale on 19 June.
HER last tour in 2020 was cut short thanks to the Covid pandemic but now Louise is gearing up to go back on the road.
The Borderline singer will play five live shows as part of her Naked/Confessions tour next April, taking in cities including London, Birmingham and Manchester, with tickets on sale today.
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Eternal’s Louise is gearing up to go back on the roadBritish pop group Eternal consisted of Vernie, Kelly, Easther & LouiseCredit: Andrew Styczynski – The Sun
And in an exclusive interview to celebrate the announcement, ex-Eternal star Louise says she’s never felt so inspired after her last album Confessions became her fourth top ten record.
“I’m so proud of that album,” Louise tells me.
“That’s really what spurred me on to carry on writing.
“It taught me that it’s OK not to please everybody.
“I’m enjoying the creative process of not worrying about if people might hate on it.
“Knowing that you just can’t please everyone.
“It’s all about the mindset and the confidence.
“I do think that comes with age as well.”
After saying yes to going back on the road, Louise reveals she’s learned the power of saying no — and was inspired by pop royalty Madonna.
“I am a big fan, I loved the show she did with Sabrina Carpenter. As a woman, for me, it’s about celebrating people and their achievements,” Louise says.
“I hated reading anything negative about that because for me, she is a genius. I’m at that stage where I’m trying to embrace everything and go with it, but I am also saying no.
“I just wrote a song about saying no and I love it.
Louise reveals she’s learned the power of saying no — and was inspired by pop royalty MadonnaCredit: Rafael PavarottiLouise is a big fan of MadgeCredit: Instagram
“The basis of the song is when you finally learn to say, ‘That’s not for me.’
“We all live in a world where we don’t want to say no to anything for a multitude of reasons.”
The tour, which kids off in Sunderland on April 8 next year, will see Louise picking her favourite tracks from her debut album Naked — which turns 30 in 2027 — and from Confessions for the set list.
And Louise — who will play The Mighty Hoopla festival in London next weekend — has promised to throw in some brand new tunes too.
Louise, who has scored nine Top Ten solo singles including 2 Faced and Pandora’s Kiss, adds: “I get that people will want the hits. It’s about celebrating Naked and Confessions — but I definitely will do new stuff on the tour.
“I don’t want to play it particularly safe.
“The one thing I have learned in this industry is that you have to keep changing.
“You have to keep finding new ways to motivate yourself. Whether that be music, what you’re wearing, the lyrics you’re writing.
“Now I know the lane that I’m in and I know what I want to do.”
Girls single minded
Remember Monday have today dropped the first single, DelusionalCredit: Adam BrazierRemember Monday with The Sun’s Howell DaviesCredit: supplied
THEY have been together for over a decade, represented the UK at Eurovision and performed at Wembley Stadium.
Now, British girl group Remember Monday have given Bizarre’s Howell the exclusive that they’ve just completed work on their debut album in Prague – and have today dropped the first single, Delusional.
The trio, made up of Lauren Byrne, Charlotte Steele and Holly-Anne Hull first started work on the track two years ago, but only finished it last summer with the help of McFly’s Danny Jones and Dougie Poynter, after being introduced to them at the Capital Summertime Ball.
Lauren, who posed with her bandmates for the single artwork, said: “It feels like it was the first song that started the whole new era.
“After that session, it was like, this is the kind of music that we want to be working on now.”
Holly continued: “We just wanted to kind of hone in on our sound, really solidify what we want to say moving forward.
“I don’t know if we can say, but . . . well, we’re releasing an album.
“The sound that we’re going down is quite nostalgic. Like, we really love the Nineties rom-com energy of music.”
The group will support McFly on tour this summer.
They admit their path is not always easy given that they are independent artists without the financial backing of a major record label.
Referencing the title of their single, Charlotte said: “Our whole band is run and fuelled by delusion.”
Lauren added: “It’s weird to be around. But we do just talk about things as if they are happening regardless of whether we have the funds or contacts. We just speak it into existence.
“And it actually has worked. I don’t even know how we’ve got to this stage.”
It’s working so far ladies.
Good for you.
Too pretty for this ditty
Linda Perry wrote song Beautiful for Christina AguileraCredit: Splash
SONGWRITER Linda Perry has revealed she almost turned down Christina Aguilera’s request for her song Beautiful after admitting she thought she was too pretty to sing it.
Linda wrote the track which ended up being one of Christina’s most enduring songs from her 2002 album Stripped.
Appearing on the Zach Sang Show, Linda said she played American star Christina, pictured at the Abbey’s 35th anniversary party in Hollywood, the track and explained: “She was like, ‘ I want that.’
“And I’m thinking, ‘No, you’re like, a hot chick. I’m not giving you this song. No way. Are you kidding me?”
It was only after Christina sang the track for Linda that she changed her mind, adding: “It broke the ice between the both of us when I saw that.
“That’s when I discovered beautiful people are actually insecure and just as damaged as I am.”
Sphere come all the Girls?
The Spice Girls aren’t interested in a quick nostalgia cash-inCredit: Refer to Caption
THE SPICE GIRLS might fancy zig-a-zig-ah-ing their way into a Las Vegas residency, but I’m told bosses at the Sphere aren’t interested in a quick nostalgia cash-in.
My Sphere insider said: “The Spice Girls would be a massive draw, but this couldn’t be done as a one-off or a short residency.
“The costs involved in creating a Sphere show are enormous. There’s special cameras, bespoke visuals and millions of dollars in production costs before a ticket is sold.
“They’d need all five on board and would want 40 to 60 shows.”
Last month Posh Spice teased that she was keen for the shows to go ahead, saying: “How good would the Spice Girls be at the Sphere? I love the idea of it.”
The venue, which has mind-blowing wraparound screens, has already hosted U2, The Eagles and No Doubt.
TREVOR NELSON was handed a top gong at last night’s Audio Academy Arias.
Rylan Clark hosted the bash at The Roundhouse in North London, which saw Radio 2 legend Trevor honoured with a Special Recognition Award.
He was handed the gong by my pal Craig David, who spoke about Trevor’s impact on the British music scene.
It was a great night for Radio 1 DJ Greg James too, with his Breakfast show landing the top prize in its category, while BBC Radio 6 Music’s Beth Ditto was handed Best New Presenter.
LOUIS TOMLINSON reckons there’s one man who could tempt him into a collaboration – fellow Doncaster star Yungblud.
Ex-One Direction singer Louis admitted he’s not keen on teaming up with artists for the sake of it, but working with the rock wild man would feel different.
Louis explained: “I really like his music and he’s from Doncaster, my hometown, I think that would make it even more interesting.”
But he joked that their might be a slight age gap issue.
Louis laughed: “I’d be the senior one in that conversation.”
Doncaster might be running the UK music scene soon . . .
MY fellow Spurs fan AJ Tracey has joined talkSPORT as a World Cup pundit.
The Thiago Silva rapper will join footballer-turned-Strictly star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Burnley ace Kyle Walker on the station’s line-up for the big event this summer.
CRUZ BECKHAM And The Breakers lead the new music releases today with their catchy new single, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
DJ Sonny Fodera also drops his new tune, Let Me Be In Your Arms, ahead of his performance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend tonight.
LEGENDARY recording studio Abbey Road has announced its fifth annual Music Photography Awards.
This year’s judging panel is packed with music industry royalty, including Raye and Nile Rodgers.
Photographer to the stars, Rankin, is also on the panel ahead of the VIP ceremony on September 24.
Rankin said: “With another stellar judging panel joining us, I can’t wait to get stuck in and review the 2026 submissions. What are you waiting for?” Submissions are open now.
