Entertainment News

Famed stage and screen actors Juliet Stevenson and Anton Lesser join Birmingham Bach Choir for a unique concert honouring William Shakespeare. Part of the year-long UK-wide celebrations marking 400 years since the Bard’s death, A Shakespearean Concert combines varied musical works inspired by the playwright with passages from his much-loved plays and sonnets, and takes place in both Birmingham (18 June 2016, CBSO Centre) and Stratford-upon-Avon (Saturday 2 July 2016, Stratford ArtsHouse).

To celebrate this week’s launch of The Angry Birds Movie (released on May 13th), Peperami has commissioned a new poll which shows that people living in and around Birmingham believe punching your producer in the face is just enough to secure the title as Britain’s angriest celebrity. Jeremy Clarkson takes the top spot locally with one in five of the votes (20%). He narrowly beats out TV personality Katie Hopkins (17%) who did, however, come in first place nationally. 

The halls will be alive with the sound of music as Wolverhampton Art Gallery plays host to a series of concerts over the next few weeks. Dean Friedman, best known for his classic hits Lucky Stars, McDonald’s Girl and Lydia, will be performing in the Lichfield Street venue's Georgian Gallery on Saturday 11 June from 7.30pm as part of a 40 date tour of the UK, Ireland and France.

The summer months are the time to get out into the gardens of Britain, and this is the perfect time to look around and start thinking about some garden improvements. As well as the annual garden tidy up, it could be a chance to consider adding a hot tub, swim spa or even a new swimming pool, to improve life at home.

A gallery of artwork created by Supported Learning students at Walsall College has gone on public display at the Walsall Leather Museum. The annual ‘Made in Walsall’ exhibition, which was launched last week and will run until 25th June 2016, is a chance for students on the college’s Creative Arts programme to showcase their exploration of diverse materials, techniques and processes learnt on the course and share their creativity with others.

The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), the Drowning Prevention Charity’s, Open Water Festival is set to return to Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, on Sunday 22 May. The Ragley Crawl will see participants swapping the swimming pool to take the plunge into open water at Ragley Hall’s lake for a day of light-hearted competition.  The day will be bursting with fun family activities, stalls and refreshments all in aid of drowning prevention and anyone from first time open water dippers to regular competitors are welcome to take part.

Harborne Art Gallery, located within Frametec in Harborne, Birmingham, is currently displaying ‘Etchings by David Harban’ until mid-June 2016. The exhibition celebrates and is inspired by many of Birmingham’s landscapes and historical buildings. David Harban RBSA is a local Artist and Printmaker who specialises in printmaking and aquatint. David’s work is heavily inspired by local landscapes and many of Birmingham’s historical buildings.

Dogs have long assumed a wide variety of important roles in society, from highly trained farm and police work to everyday human companionship. But tomorrow the world will see a brand new string added to the venerable bow of feats man’s best friend is capable of… bartending. That’s with the launch of the world’s first ever bar staffed by dogs.

Elements of the Black Country landscape are revealed in a new solo exhibition which opens at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in May and features hundreds of blown glass spheres. Acclaimed Wolverhampton-born artist David Ward has brought together the exhibition ‘In a Landscape’ especially for the gallery - his first solo show in his hometown.

Following a host of impressive event announcements from Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel, the white-walled venue has pulled out another show stopper as they have confirmed Tinie Tempah and friends, 'Disturbing London' will take over Ushuaїa for a six date 'Disturbing Ibiza' residency for summer 2016. Kicking off on Friday 10th June, each 'Disturbing Ibiza' show will line up a series of special guests, until the closing show on Friday 16th September.

To mark The Queen's 90th birthday, the Legoland Windsor Resort is throwing Her Majesty a street party on The Mall just like the official 'Patron's Lunch' celebrations planned for June 12 – only in miniature and made from Lego! The party scene will be set up on Miniland's very own Mall in front of a magnificent 35,000 brick recreation of Buckingham Palace from 8 June.

The line-up for this summer's Nocturne concert series is now complete with the announcement that The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra will perform a selection of music from classic Bond films on Saturday June 25th. Presented by former Bond girl Fiona Fullerton (A View To A Kill), and featuring guest vocalists Mary Carewe and Simon Bowman, The RPCO will perform themes from films including Goldfinger, From Russia With Love, Live & Let Die, Licence to Kill, Skyfall and the acclaimed score from Spectre under the direction of conductor Richard Balcombe.

It was tears all round, backstage, on Britain's Got Talent, when 14-year-old Jasmine Elcock’s rendition of Cher's Believe left both Ant and Dec emotion - pulling at their ‘heartstrings’ to the point of them, without reservation, sending her straight through as their Golden Buzzer act. But, having wowed them, and the judges, there were some people who were not, for whatever reason, that convinced.

Cyclists are celebrating Wolverhampton’s rich history of manufacturing bikes – and its own cycling champion Hugh Porter – in a new exhibition now on show at Bilston Craft Gallery. Two Tyres champions the design, manufacture and sporting history of cycling in the city as the pastime enjoys a renaissance across the region.

Multi-platinum selling rapper Wiz Khalifa has been confirmed to perform at Isle of MTV Malta, which is celebrating the 10th anniversary year of the open-air concert on the sunlit Mediterranean island. The free live music event, a partnership between MTV and the Malta Tourism Authority will return to Il-Fosos Square on Tuesday, June 28, 2016.

Landscape artist Anthony Garratt has completed work on High and Low, a spectacular outdoor painting installation which he has created in Snowdonia, North Wales.  The installation evoques a unique and compelling narrative about the history, geography and industrial heritage of North Wales. It features two giant canvases, both of which were painted by the artist in situ.