Hull plans to be world-leading music city after Unesco bid fails
Hull will try again to become a Unesco Creative City of Music after a first attempt proved unsuccessful.Organisers submitted an initial bid in January by setting out a five-year plan to develop the city into a "global leader" for making and experiencing "quality music".Councillor Rob Pritchard, who leads on culture at Hull City Council, said they had been "disappointed to just miss out" on Unesco status, but encouraged by "incredibly positive feedback".An "even stronger bid" for the international scheme, which includes cities around the world, would be submitted in 2027, he added.
The Unesco project aims to promote co-operation "among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development".Pritchard said: "Second-time bids to Unesco can be more successful, so we'll be working very hard, taking on all the responses, to ensure our next bid is something that will blow the board away."Glasgow became the first UK city to be awarded the status in 2008, followed by Liverpool in 2015 and Belfast in 2021.While Hull has given birth to performers including The Housemartins, Mick Ronson and Roland Gift, the Unesco bid sought to present the city as "one of the world's most progressive" in "community-led culture".Grassroots successes have included the Humber Street Sesh, an annual music festival featuring scores of local acts.Mark Page, the Sesh director, said Hull produced "some of the greatest talent in the country" and deserved to be "on the map".Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
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Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Dan Snow comes face to face with an Inca ‘ice mummy': "Nothing can prepare you"
TV historian Dan Snow goes to the ancient site of Machu Picchu in Peru where he makes some exciting discoveries Dan Snow comes face to face with an Inca 'ice mummy' in this latest travel show, Dan Snow & The Lost City, on 5 tonight (Thursday 5th June) at 9pm. The 'mummy' is a young girl who was frozen in time when she was sacrificed to the mountain Gods at Machu Picchu in Peru around 600 years ago. But now, using new archaeology and recently discovered ancient records, a picture can be pieced together of life and death in this extraordinary place. In this 90-minute special, Dan explores the unfolding story of these amazing finds. On his journey to the incredible UNESCO heritage site of Machu Picchu, Dan climbs into the mountains on the trail of the incredible lost city of the Incas. The magical metropolis perched high amongst the clouds, was rediscovered, overgrown by jungle, over 100 years ago. Dan says: 'Machu Picchu is the most overwhelming location for a historical site. Nothing can prepare you for arriving there - it's like a great big Coluseum. It is truly like a lost city in the jungle. It's the thing you dream about when you're a little kid and it's right there, sitting high up in the Andes.' He adds: 'I was lucky enough to go when they were doing some scientific research on an Inca Ice Mummy. It turned out to be the body of a 12-year-old Incan girl, and she was perfectly preserved in the ice. I had to hold it for a minute and I ended up with her in my arms and she's the age of my daughter. It was one of the most overwhelming things.' *Dan Snow and the Lost City is airing on 5 tonight at 9pm There's plenty more on TV tonight - here's the best of the rest.. THE BRITISH SOAP AWARDS 2025, ITV1, 8pm Looking back on 12 months of murder, make ups, break ups, mystery and mayhem, this is the night to celebrate the nation's best loved soap operas. Jane McDonald hosts the glam affair at The Hackney Empire, London, where the four biggest soaps - Corrie, Enders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, battle it out for awards. It's been a big year, in which Gail Platt left the cobbles after 50 years, the Albert Square residents celebrated 40 years on air, a dramatic limo crash shocked Emmerdale fans and Hollyoaks jumped a year into the future with explosive twists and turns. The Platts, Slaters, Dingles and Osbornes will be vying for Best Family, while Jack P. Shepherd (David), Patsy Palmer (Bianca), Nicola Wheeler (Nicola) and Nicole Barber-Lane (Myra) are all hoping to win Best Comedy Performance. Other gongs up for grabs include Best Storyline, Villain of the Year, Scene of the Year and of course Best British Soap. Jane says: 'I can't wait to get my glittery frock on.' AMBULANCE, BBC1, 9pm More stories of heroism from the frontlines as we follow ambulance workers working to save lives. It's a tonic for the soul. In this episode call handlers are frustrated as they deal with a sexually abusive caller who has already rung 999 seven times in the past hour. It's proving difficult to trace his calls. A call comes in for a patient who has been stabbed in the chest in Croydon. Paramedics Phillipa and James are immediately dispatched alongside another ambulance, police, an incident response officer and London's air ambulance, HEMS. Working in Wimbledon, crewmates Astrid and Lydia are dispatched to an 85-year-old woman who has broken her ankle after falling down the stairs. Arriving on the scene, they find Enid lying on the floor in extreme pain, with her ankle bone exposed. Enid's concerned neighbours are at a loss for what to do as the elderly lady reveals she has never felt the need for an ambulance before. EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7pm Finally, the grim discovery of the body in the lake is revealed to be Nate's. Cain and Moira are blindsided when they find out. When Cain hears that the body is so decomposed that he can't even visit his son, he starts to experience flashbacks to their last interaction. Cain is also now in the frame due to the fight he had with Nate on the day he died. He's furious as the police question him. Chas and Tracy become suspicious. EASTENDERS, BBC1, 7.30pm Kat and Alfie prepare to celebrate their joint stag and hen party. Kat is thrilled when Kim reveals the theme of the 'hag', but her happiness is short-lived when she makes a worrying discovery on the family computer. At The Vic, the karaoke party is a flop and Elaine is furious when Kim reveals that Cindy's relaunch party is a success. Elaine decides to attend the party to annoy Cindy. Tommy is furious when Kat reveals that Amy is babysitting.
The Herald Scotland
18 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
The 'Great Edinburgh poem': a makar's search for the heart of a city
The first firecracker in my inbox was a commission to write what could be termed my 'Great Edinburgh Poem'. A daunting task at the best of times. Season into that, this commission coming from Edinburgh City of Lit to mark their 20 year anniversary as the world's first UNESCO City of Literature. Lurking in the undertow, an even more grandiose celebration that called for some poetic cap-doffing – that being Edinburgh's turning 900-years-old as a city full stop. Having grown up in the Portobello area of Edinburgh, and also serving as the Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University, the stakes were immediately set high. Read more in our series The Future of Edinburgh: Edinburgh is a complex beast, abstruse and arcane, hidden Closes and summer rain. I love it, it hurts me, I'm so, so grateful to have been wombed and raised here. All the same, it's a risky pursuit, there's no way of my poem ever being everything to everyone. My idea was to quest off on a safari to track down where the Edinburgh's heart might be cooring down – places that chimed and chirruped for me came reeking in younger years nostalgia, alongside them sat some of the more trophistic symbols of the city. My list includes: The Portobello Bookshop, The Mosque Kitchen, Sampson's Ribs, The Sheep Heid Inn Skittle Alley, Jack Kane Sport Centre, National Library of Scotland, and, yup, Edina Castle. In the end, it came back to people, that is Edinburgh for me – the denizens who dwell here: whether generations deep or in their city-living infancy. I'd always wanted to write a poem that dissolved into a list of names of many people I love. And so I did. In order to amplify that multi-authored, multi-perspective, global vibe, we enlisted a gaggle of Edinburgh College of Art animators, from 12 plus different countries, to respond to sections of the poem. Together they brewed a stunning fandango of a film, widening the narration and the lens. Upon its grand unveiling, amongst the deluge of soppy sentiments, applause, and zealous plaudits there was, of course, a few cries of 'drivel' and 'talentless to compared to X', but perhaps that's as it should be (another canny demonstration of Edina's rich vagaries). I should say, all the more gnarly comments were on Twitter/X, and I've since left. Michael Pedersen (Image: Shaun Murawki) For Edinburgh International Book Festival moving into his new home at Edinburgh Futures Institute – the former Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh – I wrote a piece entitled Wards on the Wards. This was a tribute to my lovely mum, who had trained as a maternity nurse on these very corridors in her late teens/early twenties. In order to assist, she rushed off to retrieve her nurse's notebooks containing the names of all the babies she cared for during her last few shifts there – annotations of jaundice, broken hips, mucus-filled lungs, and blue babies, haunting the healthier crop of younglings she helped into the word. The poem issues a sizeable swoon at her doing so much so young, nerves wringing and left alone to save these baby lives. Wow. It ends with a meditation on my mum growing older and the hefty task of keeping up the work the garden takes to reach full bloom; this becoming more gruelling as her body ages. It meant a lot to her, I'm so chuffed to have been able to conjure it. Shortly after this my mum was diagnosed with cancer, it became a lot very fast, all-consuming, and though she's now recovering well there's still hurdles ahead, and we had to have those life-altering chats about the worse-case scenario. I am carrying these sentiments with me into a forthcoming commission for Edinburgh University's Medical School turning 300-years-old next year, paying tribute to all the young doctors and nurses they've propelled off into the world, especially those that volley towards our NHS. What a gift. Another commission that reverberated through me when approached was to sculpt something for the Samaritans. I was privileged to write a poem about reaching out for hope in times of despair – flares of light cast into the gathering dark. I think of lighthouses flinging out their beams to offer courage and safety to rope the way home. Edinburgh bridges are as robust and beautiful as they are eerie and dangerous. This commission would help catapult their new tartan range, SamariTartan, out into the world. Of course, I think of the cherished friend I lost, Scott Hutchison, in crafting these words. The gargantuan absence his leaving flings across this city in which our friendship was born and burgeoned. Edinburgh is full of ghosts, we carry the anchors of our greatest losses into even the happiest of moments. Yet, trilling above the loss, this city feels thronging with the spectres of magical memories, the splendour of the past – that's what Scott really is to me (warm and wonderous). Reflecting on Edinburgh, Neu! Reekie! comes fast to mind, the lustre we fomented here, over ten plus years of unfurling literary events upon the city. I co-founded Neu! Reekie! with Rebel Inc's Kevin Williamson, and down the line we were joined by photographer, Kat Gollock, and music-maker/FiniTribe diva, Davie Miller. Together we hosted hundreds of arts extravaganzas curating take-overs for the likes National Museums of Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, EIF, EIFF, EIBF, & more. Yet at the core of it was our grassroots shows in Summerhall, Pilrig Church, Limited Ink, Leith Theatre, Leith St Andrew's, and the Scottish Books Trust. Scotland's premiere avant-garden noisemakers, Neu! Reekie! left a gap, a gulf, a lacuna, that I don't think has been fully filled, despite a truly sublime number of new nights and festivals upping their game. We're always jostled by punters in pubs that it's time to bring it back, but I doubt that will ever happen. Neu! Reekie! answered a clarion call for something as artistically enriching as it was rambunctious, but so much of the momentum came from growing, evolving, and outdoing ourselves, taking new challenge by the horns. A comeback, having climbed so high, seems to lack the gonzo spirit of it all, expectations would already be soaring, it'd need to be something jaw-dropping. I turn instead to the artists inhabiting the city now, ploughing their own furrow, and hope to be one of this clan. Those makars striving to make the city a more vibrant, progressive, powerful, intriguing, kinder, and fairer place, some simply by doing what they do so brilliantly. To name a few choice denizens: Young Fathers, Nadine Shah, Mark Cousins, Val McDermid, Emun Elliott, Withered Hand, Irvine Welsh, Sarah Muirhead, Kevin Harman, and Jonathan Freemantle. Whereas I arrived into the Edinburgh Makar role a tad worried about the carousel of commissions I might be riding in on, it's been quite the opposite. These commissions have been creative enzymes, gusto giving galvanisers. My poem for Edinburgh is called Be More, Edinburgh. It's an encouragement, nay prod in the ribs, that as well as celebrating this city, that holds my heart so dearly, I have to ensure that I'm one of those insisting it doesn't waiver in doling out its precious succour – at home and afar! That it supports our charities and protesters, and casts out its own muckle beam – a luminous bolt of welcome kilted into the sky. Some might say I didn't push hard enough, I'll be thinking on that, there's time yet. Michael Pedersen is a Scottish poet, author and spoken word performer. Alongside his writing, he co-founded the Edinburgh arts collective Neu! Reekie! which existed from 2010 to 2022. He is the current Edinburgh Makar and writer-in-residence at The University of Edinburgh
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
People left shocked after discovering what 'Wonderland on Earth' which Avatar was based on looks like now
In James Cameron 's epic 2009 film 'Avatar', characters exist in a beautiful landscape with vast forests and mountains. This fictional setting was inspired by the real-life Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China, known as a 'wonderland on Earth'. The breathtaking reserve is part of a wider scenic area officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But people have been shocked to discover how Zhangjiajie is being transformed into a 'stinking cesspit'. Disgraceful new footage reveals a look inside one of the ancient natural caves at the site, which was formed hundreds of thousands of years ago. Due to an influx of human visitors, the cave is filled with huge piles of litter, including plastic bottles and wrappers. In the footage, explorers can be seen staring in horror as they cast a torch around the multicoloured rubbish mountains. Over more than a decade, the debris was discarded by park visitors before eventually ending up in the cave, authorities believe. Disgraceful new footage reveals a look inside one of the ancient natural caves at the site, which was formed hundreds of thousands of years ago Officials say that some plastic water bottles found inside the cave date to 2015 – indicating that the pollution has been building up for a while. The cave is also now filled with murky water and sewage, which has 'produced an unbearable stench', reports Need To Know, citing local press. According to an investigation, the source of pollution is suspected to be the long-term illegal discharge of sewage by local farmers. The sewage and garbage has gradually built up in the descending cave like an overflowing toilet, spilling to the surface. As a result, it has flowed into a nearby stream, sparking concern among locals about the cleanliness of drinking water. The Ecology and Environment Bureau of Cili County has launched a district-wide investigation alongside authorities, the report adds. It's unclear exactly which cave it is at Zhangjiajie, but the park's natural voids are filled with incredible stalactites, hanging like an icicles from the roof. Stalactites are produced by precipitation of minerals from water dripping through the cave ceiling – and are different from stalagmites which rise from the floor. 'Avatar' took more than five years to make and was reportedly one of the most expensive films, with a budget of at least $300 million Zhangjiajie National Forest Park inspired the fictional jungle moon of Pandora – home to the blue-hued Na'vi people – in the 2009 James Cameron smash hit. The action-adventure movie, starring Sigourney Weaver, is set in 2154 and tells the tale of a disabled ex-Marine sent to Pandora to infiltrate a race of 10-foot (3-metre) blue aliens and persuade them to let his employer mine their homeland for natural resources. The film took more than five years to make and was reportedly one of the most expensive films, with a budget of at least $300 million. Avatar became the highest grossing film of all time after its release in 2009, beating Titanic, also directed by James Cameron, off the top spot. A year after the film, Zhangjiajie tourism bosses changed the name of the Qiankun Pillar to 'Avatar Hallelujah Mountain' and started to cash in with Avatar souvenirs. There's now an Avatar statue for people to pose with for photos, against the inspiring backdrop of striking sandstone and quartz cliffs. However, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park was already being turned into something of a tourist attraction before Cameron's successful film. It features the Bailong Elevator, opened to the public in 2002, which is the world's tallest outdoor lift, at 1,070ft (326 metres). An Avatar statue is seen at the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, a popular tourist destination - largely thanks to the film Like something from the streets of Beijing, the huge elevator can transport visitors to the top from its foot in less than two minutes. There's also three cable cars and a 1,410ft glass bridge for pedestrians (the highest in the world), opened in 2016. The park is also home to small villages and the 'air garden' – a startling rice terrace 1,000 metres (3,280ft) above sea level. In addition, it has free-roaming wildlife, including monkeys, which have been filmed pinching people's belongings.
