Second host on MasterChef UK sacked
United Kingdom correspodent Edward O'Driscoll spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about a second host on the popular cooking show MasterChef UK being sacked, as well as customers at a London fish and chip shop who were met with a slithery surprise.
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RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Cleo Laine, UK jazz singer who performed with Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, dies at 97
By William Schomberg, Reuters Cleo Laine performs with jazz musician John Dankworth (1927-2010) at the Brecon Jazz Festival in Brecon, Wales in August 1995. Photo: Getty Images British jazz singer Cleo Laine, who performed with musical greats including Frank Sinatra and starred as an actor in London's West End and on Broadway, has died aged 97, the Guardian newspaper reported on Friday (UK time), citing a statement from her children Jacqui and Alec. Born to an English mother and a Jamaican father in a suburb of London in 1927, she initially worked as a hairdresser, a hat-trimmer and a librarian. She married in 1946 and had a son while still a teenager. Driven on by her dream of becoming a singer, she divorced and got her big break in 1951, when she joined the band of English saxophonist and clarinettist John Dankworth at 24. Dankworth's band decided her name was too long - at the time she thought she had been born Clementine Campbell, though a passport application later revealed her mother had used her own surname Hitching on the birth certificate. Cleo Laine performs in the studio, with the producer Norman Granz who produced the recording of the George Gershwin folk opera, Porgy and Bess, in Los Angeles, California, on September 25, 1976. Photo: Getty Images / Afro Newspaper/Gado The men of the Dankworth Seven band thought her name was too cumbersome for a poster, and that her nickname Clem was too cowboy-like. They settled on a new stage persona for her by drawing "Cleo" and "Laine" from hats. In 1958, she and Dankworth married. Their home became a magnet for London's jazz set: friends included stars from across the Atlantic such as Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young and Dizzy Gillespie. After acting as well as singing in Britain through the 1960s, Laine toured Australia in 1972 and performed at New York's Lincoln Centre. The recording of a further show, at Carnegie Hall, won her a Grammy. Recordings included Porgy and Bess with Ray Charles. In 1992 she appeared with Frank Sinatra for a series of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, but she was best known for her work with Dankworth's bands. He later became her musical director. Cleo Laine performing at the Cafe Royal in London. Photo: AFP / Collection Christophel / Longhur The couple built their own auditorium in the grounds of their home near London and were friends with the late Princess Margaret, the sister of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Their two children went on to become musicians. Dankworth - who Laine described as being "joined at the hip" with her - died in 2010. Hours after his death, Laine performed a scheduled show in their auditorium, announcing the news about her husband only at the end of the concert. -Reuters
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Society a chance to learn of arts
Giving everyday people the chance to learn about the fine arts is the focus of Dunedin group the Otago Decorative and Fine Arts Society. The organisations is one of eight societies throughout New Zealand which join together to bring expert speakers from across the country, Australia and the United Kingdom here to share their knowledge. Otago Decorative and Fine Arts Society (ODAFS) chairwoman Maggie Hanton said since the Otago branch of the society was formed in 2016, members had enjoyed dozens of excellent speakers on a broad variety of topics. "Our speakers cover a wide range of subject — from the art of 1935, to architecture, to Van Gogh, to the world of pearls," Ms Hanton said. "And our speakers are professionals, giving top-notch lectures that are entertaining and informative." Ms Hanton said the ODAFS had a membership of 100 people, who meet every five or six weeks on a Wednesday evening at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery to listen to a speaker. "Ideally, we would really like to grow our membership to about 120, so we would love to welcome some more local people to join us and learn about the arts," she said. "Many of our members are also part of the Friends of DPAG, U3A and various music groups, and they are a very friendly bunch." The eight New Zealand groups operate under the umbrella of the United Kingdom-based The Arts Society, selecting preferred lecturers from a list and working together to bring them to New Zealand. Most then tour around the various societies. Annual membership fees of $120 per individual or $260 per couple go towards covering the cost of lecturers and venues. So far this year, the ODFAS has heard lectures about painter Edgar Degas, South African artist Irma Stern, the Chinese porcelain trade, and the history of the Silk Road. The July lecture, to be held next Wednesday, July 30, from 7.30pm at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery will feature speaker Alice Foster sharing insights into how to read portraits to understand more about the sitter and the artist. The lecture will be open to ODFAS members, and guests are also welcome to come along this month for free and learn more about the group. For more information, email otagodfas@ visit the website or find them on facebook.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Clearing a path through the noise
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Ólafur Arnalds playing during the Rudolstadt-Festival 2019. Photo: Carsten Stiller When he was young, Iceland was too quiet for Ólafur Arnalds . At the age of 18, he jumped on a plane to London. He lived in a squat and played the drums in punk and heavy metal bands. These days he's back in Iceland and he can't get enough of the still life. Arnalds was in Auckland briefly as part of a Southern Hemisphere tour of the techno duo, Kiasmos , of which he is one half - the other half belong to the Faroe Islander, Janus Rasmussen. Kiasmos mostly makes music to dance to, but when Arnalds isn't doing techno, he's increasing creating sounds that spill over into the classical world; music like the "Chopin Project" where he collaborated with the pianist Alice Sara Ott. He's also composed for the choir Voces8, while the soprano sax player Jess Gillam recently recorded an arrangment of his work "Saman" (which means "together" in Icelandic). And he is increasingly drawn to silence. Not just silence in terms of no sound, but silence as in taking a break from all the "noise" most of us bombard ourselves with when locked into the latest social media goings-on via our smartphones. Arnalds spoke with RNZ Concert's Bryan Crump about the power of silence, and how sometimes in his solo concerts (where he's usually playing keyboards) he takes his audience to a place where there's no sound at all - and leaves them there as long as he can. They also spoke about Arnalds' latest album, "A Dawning" , which he made with the Irish singer Eoin French (aka Talos) whose own voice was silenced by cancer before the album was finished. Arnalds believes something important happens to people when they take a break from the "noise" of the modern world. They start paying more attention to the flesh and blood people around them. He says that sense of community was especially important when he and his fellow musicians had to complete "A Dawning" after French's death.
