Entertainment News

Four years on from the dazzling 2012 Games, the Olympic spirit returned to London at 'Brazil Day' which took place in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 10 September. This free event took place from 12.00 – 7pm and was a celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and a chance to enjoy a taste of Brazil's culture, passion and vibrancy in central London.

The Marvel Super Heroes and a crowd of excited guests celebrated the official reopening of the thrilling, smash hit attraction, The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure. After a special countdown to the ride's reopening, the Marvel Super Heroes led guests inside the attraction and became the first official riders on the newly revamped coaster.

The fourth edition of the Get Creative Family Arts Festival presents an extraordinary variety of activities for the whole family, suitable for all age groups, during October 2016. From site-specific public art, award-winning musicals and plays, innovative performances and workshops to spectacular science shows, the festival covers activities across a wide spectrum of disciplines.

The final countdown is on to the new 'Appleby Summer Pudding', bringing together a fun-packed family festival with live music, jaw-dropping street circus acts and a vintage funfair by day, and a special evening gig featuring some of the best from across the UK's festival scene by night. There is now just over a week to go until this brand new boutique summer festival, as part of Appleby's fightback from the after-effects of Storm Desmond last December.

Get into the Swashbucklin' spirit at Pirate's Quest on 16th August as the crew celebrate National Rum Day; learn all about Sir Henry Morgan, why pirates always head first to a tavern upon docking and why they drink grog (watered down rum). The Newquay attraction is home to 'Captain Morgan's Tavern', named after the infamous Pirate Sir Henry Morgan who was the inspiration for Captain Morgan's Rum, and is the centre of recruitment in the summer storyline 'The Republic of Pirates'.

Roll up, Roll up! Brand new 'Summer Festival Circus' has arrived at Hastings Pier. From the creators of Zippos Circus, voted Britain's best-loved touring family show, the captivating 'Summer Festival Circus on the Pier' has been specially produced for the re-opening of Hastings Pier and will run from the 5th to 29th August 2016.

Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park is celebrating after securing a £56,000 grant from Arts Council England (ACE) to help it improve the way it communicates and engages with current and potential visitors. The money is coming from ACE’s Museum Resilience Fund, which announced today it is investing £1.17 million in fourteen museums in the East and West Midlands. It is supporting a range projects that will make sure museums have the resources they need to make the most of their collections.

Hailed by the UK's leading vacation rentals website, Holiday Lettings, as one of the top ten things to do in August, the award-winning Bournemouth Air Festival returns in two weeks' time with a staggering line-up of aviation displays and three nights of chart-topping live music thanks to support from the armed forces, business partners and independent patrons.

A 450bhp racecar that competed in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans featuring a host of 3D printed parts will be on display at the Thinktank science museum in Birmingham from 28th July for six weeks. The car is a 300 km/h DOME S103 prototype that was fielded by British racing team Strakka Racing at the round the clock Le Mans endurance classic last year.

Cornwall's first giant inflatable Aqua Park has become a huge success and already smashed targets for the year after welcoming its 15,000th guest on to the water since it opened in April. The floating Aqua Park at Retallack Resort and Spa near Padstow has been bounced on, slid down and conquered by thousands of groups, birthday parties and businesses, making it one of the region's most popular adventure activities this summer.

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and the Arena Theatre recently announced a new partnership which will see the cities two theatres combine to rehearse children and young people in a series of drama workshops beginning in the autumn. A phenomenal response to the scheme has seen a large waiting list already form, as spaces for both the junior (9 – 13 years) and senior (14 – 18 years) groups sell out within three hours of going on sale.

Birdland, Bourton-on-the-Water, are celebrating International Owl Awareness Day on Thursday 4th August with a day full of owl-tastic activities for families. Everyone will love learning more about owls, owlets and regal raptors at the Park. Children can undertake a fact-finding mission across the parkland finding out more about strigiformes as well as how the females look after their chicks, catching their prey at night in their terrific talons and of course what owl pellets actually look like.

Visitors to Blenheim Palace will be able to discover exactly what the butler saw over the summer holidays, with Living History characters in the Palace Great Court. Taking place regularly throughout the day, seven days a week, the free guided tours will explore the impressive Great Court in one of the grandest stately homes in the country. In the company of either the butler or the housemaid, the informative and entertaining tours bring the history of the house vividly to life and offers a 'behind-the-scenes' experience with lots of information about life below stairs.

The Natural History Museum’s touring Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at Wolverhampton Art gallery is leaving visitors stunned by the must-see images displayed in an ultra-modern lightbox format. In its first week of opening the response from customers attending the show has been exceptional. Few visitors will have imagined that the display could evoke such an emotional response but so imposing and atmospheric is the light-box framing and so engaging are the stories within and indeed behind these sensational photographs that it is almost impossible not to be moved by them.

Summer visitors look forward to the spectacle of horseback jousters and flying fireballs when they go to Warwick Castle, but the sight of over 40 adult peacocks strutting around the grounds is also a memorable moment. Now the public is being asked to suggest names for a brood of newborn peachicks (baby peacocks) born at the Castle this month. The young birds are the first peachicks to hatch naturally at the attraction in over four years.

Bilston Craft Gallery is to showcase a range of motorcycles made in Wolverhampton. The exhibition ‘Motorbikes: Made & Remembered’ will run at the Mount Pleasant gallery from Saturday, July 30 to Sunday, September 18. Through the latter part of the 19th Century and early 20th Century Wolverhampton and Bilston had a dozen companies producing iconic motorbikes. Famous motorbike manufacturers such as Sunbeam, AJS, Wolf and Norton produced machines that were sold across the world - their brand name synonymous with quality, safety and speed!