Latest news with #CedarTree
Time Out
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The London tree made famous by the Beatles that is nominated for Tree of the Year 2025
Can you imagine all of the things that London's oldest trees have seen in their lifetimes? They've watched generations and generations of people come and go, from medieval peasants and Tudor aristocracy to 18th century poets and 21st century tourists with selfie sticks. They've been climbing frames for kids, inspiration for Britain's greatest painters, music video stars and have even overseen era-defining political agreements. So, it's only right that London's oldest living residents get some proper recognition. One ancient cedar in west London have been shortlisted in what is essentially the Oscars of famous trees – Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year awards. Each year a panel of tree experts have chosen nine 'inspirational' trees of different ages and species from across the UK for the shortlist, with a tenth tree was put forward by the public. Among the nominees is 'The Beatles' Cedar Tree' in Chiswick House and Gardens. The magnificent tree from Lebanon is one of several in the Chiswick House grounds, and dates all the way back to the 1720s. This one is particularly special because it starred in The Beatles' 1966 music video for 'Rain', with the Fab Four filmed sitting on its branches. Woodland Trust calls the tree 'a stunner in its own right' and said that its 'vast boughs swoop down to brush the ground, creating an interesting spot for the band to sit and play their guitars' for the music video. The shot was later used for the cover for their Nowhere Man EP. The other nominees that Chiswick's cedar is up against include The King of Limbs, an ancient oak in Wiltshire that Radiohead named their 2011 album after; the Tree of Peace and Unity in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, a lime tree where leaders met in 1998 for the signing of the Good Friday agreement and the Knole Park Oak in Kent thought to have inspired an epic poem in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando. Voting to decide which tree takes the crown for 2025 opens today (July 11) and will close on September 19. You can pick your favourite here – the winner will be announced on September 26. The City of London is getting a new 'sky garden'.
The Sun
01-07-2025
- The Sun
Girl, 7, killed by falling tree at park is pictured as family pay tribute to ‘light in their lives'
TRIBUTES have flooded in for a little girl who was killed by a falling tree in a park while visiting with her family. Seven-year-old Leonna Ruka, from East London, was visiting Southend in Essex for the day. 1 Essex Police scrambled to the scene after the tree collapsed in popular Chalkwell Park, crushing a group of children. A six-year-old girl, who was also caught under the tree as it fell, is still fighting for her life in hospital. Three other children were also hospitalised with minor injuries. Locals said the very old cedar tree had been propped up by metal supports for at least a decade and it was a "known danger". is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.
Arab News
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Toronto Arab Film Festival screens searing ‘Arze'
DUBAI: The Toronto Arab Film Festival, running from June 20- 29, screened the scathing yet poignant Lebanese film 'Arze,' directed by Mira Shabib. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ The ambitious 'Arze' — which means "cedar" in Arabic — follows the story of Arze, a single mother supporting her teenage son and love-struck sister through a homemade pie delivery business. In an effort to improve their lives, she steals and sells her sister's jewelry to buy a scooter for her son to use for deliveries. But when the scooter is stolen, mother and son embark on a frantic journey across Beirut to recover it. On the surface, 'Arze' tells a story that resonates deeply with many Lebanese families caught in financial limbo. It explores the emotional toll of such hardship, with questions arising as to whether one should leave the country or give up remnants of a once-comfortable life to survive Lebanon's shifting socio-economic landscape. Beneath the family drama lies sharp satire. Even the film's title that references the cedar tree, a national symbol of Lebanese identity, carries layered meaning. Like the character herself, that identity appears fragmented, constantly lost amid the country's sectarian divides. This is where the film truly shines: Arze, portrayed with emotional depth by Diamand Abou Abboud, dons various religious symbols and disguises to navigate Beirut's fractured neighborhoods. Shabib excels in exposing the farce of sectarianism, insinuating that Lebanon's religious divisions are not deeply rooted but socially constructed and performative. Arze's ability to blend into different communities simply by changing her appearance highlights how fragile and superficial these boundaries truly are. In this sense, the film excels in its portrayal of a fourth main character: Beirut itself. Through Shabib's lens, we are taken on a tour of a city so diverse it borders on overwhelming. Yet this diversity, rather than being a source of division, becomes a stage for a pointed critique, one that targets society's fixation on appearances and its preference for the performative over lived reality.
