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The Dirigible Balloon: Preparing to Launch a New Webzine for Children’s Poetry
Dirigible Balloon: the name used to describe the newly invented airships in the 18th century. From ideas originating in China, the development of hot-air balloons was carried out by French brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier. On October 15th 1783 Jean-Francois Pilâtre de Rozier made the first tethered flight, November 21st…
Please check all dates with the venue before travelling as many theatres are currently closed.
Next Seven Days In The Arts (Sat 24th Jul - Sat 31st Jul)
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Wood Life
Q & A With Susannah Wise, Author Of This Fragile Earth
James Goodall
Features Writer
Susannah Wise
Fragile Earth is a very English dystopian fiction, in the spirit of John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids and H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, yet isn’t necessarily limited to readers of this genre. It could quite easily be situated on a range of shelves in a…
6:08 PM 24th July 2021
Review: Fear Street: Part Three - 1666
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
As we last left the second film in Leigh Janiak’s terrific horror trilogy for Netflix (adapted from the works of R. L. Stine), we had witnessed what went down in 1978 at the massacre at Camp Nightwing, and as Deena (Kiana Madeira) and her little brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.)…
11:35 AM 24th July 2021
Review: Diamond Hill By Kit Fan
Caroline Spalding
Features Correspondent
In his deeply evocative debut novel, Kit Fan paints a portrait of life in transition, a community left behind when the world around is moving swiftly on. Fan, an acclaimed poet, strikes a defining tone: his illuminating and inspired characters breathe life into the hollow space they occupy. Diamond Hill, once…
4:01 AM 24th July 2021
My Amy - The Life We Shared - Tyler James
Graham Clark
Features Writer
This month is the 10th anniversary of the death of Amy Winehouse. To mark the anniversary her best friend Tyler James has written My Amy - The life we shared, which leads the reader through her volatile marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil, her escalating addictions, self harm and eating disorders. Whilst Winehouse…
3:45 AM 24th July 2021
James Blunt Thanks His Lucky Stars On Greatest Hits Tour
James Blunt is one of those artists that divide opinion - you either like the former Life Guards Captain or wish he had still continued with his military career! I always think that when an artist releases a Greatest Hits album it signals the end of their career. If you are…
3:45 AM 24th July 2021
Review: The Temptation Of Gracie By Santa Montefiore
In these Covid-restricted days, it’s nice to at least dream of foreign fields. For Greece, read Victoria Hislop: start with The Island if you haven’t read it already, then maybe Cartes Postales from Greece for a complete change. You will quickly be warmed by the sun and immersed in Greek…
10:46 AM 23rd July 2021
“This Story Saved My Life” – Chris Whitaker Wins Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year 2021 With ‘We Begin At The End’
Brian McGilloway recognised with Highly Commended award Ian Rankin and Mark Billingham rewarded for their outstanding contribution to crime fiction
9:04 PM 22nd July 2021
Review: Fear Street: Part Two - 1978
When we last left Leigh Janiak’s ongoing Fear Street Netflix horror story, the deceased Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger) were blamed for the recent spate of murders, but Deena (Kiana Madeira) and her brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) know the truth, and that is that the vengeful spirit…
6:00 AM 21st July 2021
Chloe Flower Rises Up To The Call On Debut Album
Graham Clark
Features Writer
Chloe Flower is the most talked about pianist in the world following a performance with Cardi B at the 2019 Grammy Awards. She is an official Steinway Artist, composer, producer, activist, and fashion influencer who began playing piano at the age of two. Her debut album is in three acts —…
3:48 PM 19th July 2021
Poem Of The Week: 'Edwardiana' By Geraldine Clarkson
Steve Whitaker
Literary Editor
Edwardiana An inch or two skimmed from her twill skirt and the day shaped perfectly in her head: seamless tennis, swimming, a cycle down the lane and up, rondeau of elevenses with aunts, then two loops unhooked from her corset for patriotic postprandial singing round the piano, the map of England shaved perfectly on her head. Strong tea…
2:00 PM 18th July 2021
Review: Fear Street: Part One - 1994
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
Leigh Janiak’s highly successful and headline-grabbing Netflix Fear Street slasher trilogy has come out of nowhere for me. Based on the book series by R. L. Stine, no doubt many were excited to see the story jump to the screen, I however was unfamiliar with the source material and the…
1:48 PM 18th July 2021
Interview With Seb Byford
Graham Clark
Features Writer
Seb and Biff Byford - photo Steph Byford
You might not know the name Seb Byford but rock fans certainly know Biff Byford, Seb’s dad, Saxon's frontman. The Yorkshire-based group recently released an album of covers featuring songs that influenced them. Now father and son have come together musically to form Heavy Water. The duo have a the…
3:43 AM 17th July 2021
Review: The Woman In The Window
As things move forward, it can sometimes be nice to be taken back to a different era in a genre. Perhaps this is the reason why many of Liam Neeson’s action films in particular are a joy (other than his ever reliable skills as a leading man of course), they…
11:19 AM 15th July 2021
James Taylor Returns To The North
When I think of James Taylor I associate him with the Carole King song, You’ve Got A Friend. It was Taylor who had the biggest hit with the track, although it is not widely known that he sang backing vocals and played acoustic guitar on the version that appears on King’s…
10:36 AM 14th July 2021
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp - We’re Ok. But We’re Lost Anyway
If you feel like discovering some new music that transverses genres and concepts from post punk to free jazz then you might enjoy this varied album from Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp. The Orchestre are a 12 piece from Switzerland with guest English singers. It is not however, an easy listen…
10:26 AM 14th July 2021
Interview With The Overtones
Since bursting onto the UK music scene ten years ago, The Overtones have racked up platinum record sales, released 6 studio albums, scored four Top 10’s, sold out tours across the nation, performed for Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace and sang to one million people at the Brandenburg…
7:39 PM 12th July 2021
Review: The Father
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
Many great pieces of art come from adaptation, and when it comes to cinema you’d struggle to count the many films adapted from the stage over the years. Often these take the shape of a musical or extravagant story, but some of the best stage-to-screen transitions are actually those of…
7:15 PM 12th July 2021
Over Wadsworth Moor By Kaye McGann
Kaye McGann
Features Writer
Wadsworth Moor - photo Billy Wilson
Over Wadsworth Moor White. A white frost, a white mist, White breath steaming. A white sun breaking through, Its white light gleaming. Yellow. A warm sun, bright sky; Then day sinking, dying. Twilight lingering, dusk falling, Darkness creeping, lying. Black. A metalled road, shining wet. Where shorn sheep shiver. Blank black windows, dark with night, Pale new moon a sliver. …
4:07 PM 11th July 2021
The Spice Girls Celebrate A Silver Anniversary
Graham Clark
Features Writer
Tell me what you want, what you really, really want! The biggest selling girl band of all time, the Spice Girls, are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their debut hit single ‘Wannabe’ There had been boy bands before such as Take That, New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys, but…
9:37 AM 11th July 2021
Inhaler - Is This The Best Debut Album To Be Released So Far This Year?
Graham Clark
Features Writer
If you were looking for a debut album that blows away the cobwebs of the last 15 months - this may be it. A fine set of songs from this thrilling Dublin four piece. Quite a few of the tracks have already been released as singles but don't let that detract…
5:00 AM 10th July 2021
Poem Of The Week: 'Italy Vs. England' By George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
Italy vs. England With all its sinful doings, I must say, That Italy’s a pleasant place to me, Who love to see the sun shine every day, And vines (not nailed to walls) from tree to tree Festooned, much like the back scene of a play, Or melodrame, which people flock to see, When the first act…
4:00 AM 10th July 2021
‘The Oak Tree Lives Inside the Acorn’: The Invention of Wings By Sue Monk Kidd
I love history, always have, tempted as I was for a long time to teach that subject rather than what became my greater love, English. I don’t believe we can change history, nor re-write it and I do believe it is important not to forget it, not least because of…
10:22 PM 9th July 2021
Sir Cliff Richard To Beam Live Concert Across Cinemas In The North
If you were one of the unlucky ones not to get tickets for Sir Cliff’s Blackpool, Sheffield, Manchester or Gateshead shows, all may not be lost. On 27th October 2021, Sir Cliff will bring his live show to a cinema near you, as The Great 80 Tour is beamed live via…
5:11 PM 9th July 2021
Review: Mermaid Singing By Charmian Clift
Mermaid Singing, first published in 1956, is the gloriously illustrative account of Charmian Clift's experience when, in 1954, she and her husband, tired of the grim city life offered by London, relocated to live in the Greek Islands. On reflection, they might have confessed to a naive attitude, but their act…
5:01 PM 9th July 2021
Flags And Flowers: These Mothers Of Gods By Rachel Bower
Steve Whitaker
Literary Editor
The epigraph to one of Rachel Bower’s poems in her latest collection is taken from a Walter Benjamin axiom on the indivisibility of civilization and barbarism. His words could be no more pertinent respecting Bower’s own work, for every tincture of glitter that illuminates her sense of teeming abundance is…
1:52 PM 7th July 2021
‘Top 100 Changemaker’ Is Bringing The Arts To Young People Across The UK
Founded by Adam Tulloch, Total Insight Theatre is a charity that allows children and young people to develop self-confidence and learn life-long skills through the Arts, allowing them to express themselves in workshops and schools around the country. A fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, Tulloch’s work with the…
8:39 PM 4th July 2021
John Newman Teams Up With French Superstar DJ David Guetta
Graham Clark
Features Writer
“Who can resist the chorus from such a classic record as 'How will I Know'! Full of old school Piano House grooves, this has sunshine all the way through it. Working with MistaJam and John Newman together has made it my 2021 song of the summer” – David Guetta Continuing his…
8:38 AM 3rd July 2021
Weekend Review: Cedric Burnside - I Be Trying
Graham Clark
Features Writer
If you are a fan of blues music you might enjoy the new album from Cedric Burnside. What is unusual is his soulful vocals which mix well against a backdrop of the blues. This is best witnessed on the closing track Love You Forever. If you can imagine Al Green singing…
4:00 AM 3rd July 2021
‘Why Endure My Own Dehumanization?’: Assembly By Natasha Brown
James Baldwin once wrote, ‘The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been hidden by the answers’. It is a desideratum of oppression that inconvenient truths be occluded, Nietzschean constructs rising like treacherous mountain ranges from the impenetrable foggy foothills of unexamined inequalities. A society that…
9:27 PM 2nd July 2021
The South Carry On Regardless As Northern Shows Announced
With the Coronavirus pandemic putting a stop to live music around the world for most of 2020/21, it is good to see that The South are back on the road, doing what they do best - performing the songs of The Beautiful South. The South, is a nine piece band featuring…
4:16 PM 2nd July 2021
Custody Of The Eyes: Like A Tree Cut Back By Michael McCarthy
It is a rare thing to find an Irish catholic priest turning his hand to the writing of a memoir; more difficult still to imagine the demands of a vocation not getting the better of artistic impulse. But, in Like a Tree Cut Back, Michael McCarthy leaves us the fine…
2:59 PM 2nd July 2021
Elton John To Play Northern Stadium Shows
The return of Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour, will visit 30 stadia across the UK, Europe and North America in 2022. The final leg of the tour begins on May 27, 2022 in Frankfurt. Elton will play various European cities before reaching the UK in June at…
4:14 PM 30th June 2021
Tramlines Festival In Sheffield - All Set To Go Ahead
Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival 2021 have announced that it will join the third phase of the Government’s Events Research Programme, allowing the sold-out music festival at Hillsborough Park to take place at full capacity on 23rd to 25th July. The Streets, Royal Blood and Richard Ashcroft will headline a world-class lineup…
9:51 AM 30th June 2021
“Where Men Can’t Live, Gods Fare No Better”: This Fragile Earth By Susannah Wise
James Goodall
Features Writer
This Fragile Earth is the debut novel of author Susannah Wise. Wise depicts a future not too dissimilar to our present, but one in which our current dependence upon technology has worsened considerably. Neighbourhoods are replete with innovative mod cons, from car-charging ports which line the streets (in anticipation, perhaps,…
8:07 PM 29th June 2021
Poem Of The Week: 'Utah' By Anne Stevenson (1933-2020)
Steve Whitaker
Literary Editor
Anne Stevenson
Utah Somewhere nowhere in Utah, a boy by the roadside, gun in his hand, and the rare dumb hard tears flowing. Beside him, the greyheaded man has let one arm slide awkwardly over his shoulder, is talking and pointing at whatever it is, dead, in the dust on the ground. By the old parked Chevy, two…
3:42 PM 27th June 2021
Black Sabbath- Sabotage
Graham Clark
Features Writer
Originally released in 1975, Sabotage was regarded as the last good album that Black Sabbath made. The album has now been re-released as a 'super deluxe box' set that includes a remastered version of the original album along with 3 other LPs that were recorded on their 1975 American tour. There…
9:00 AM 27th June 2021
Home Is Where The Heart Is For Talented Designer
Designer and artist Catherine Davis has launched a bespoke home illustration collection inspired by the ‘stay at home’ message throughout lockdown. Catherine, who started her business Catherine Davis Designs seven years ago, is an artist, textile and surface pattern designer based in Calderdale. Under normal circumstances, she works with manufacturers and suppliers…
10:55 AM 26th June 2021
Jack Savoretti - Europiana
“Do you remember me” are the first words you hear on the new album from Jack Savoretti on the opening track I Remember Us. I am sure that his countless fans will remember Savoretti and will greatly appreciate this new album. Like his last album, Singing To Strangers, production wise many…
9:00 AM 26th June 2021
Separate Paths Sometimes Coincide: Someone I used to Know By Paige Toon
Long Lost Families eat your heart out. I love the programme and will happily admit to nursing the box of tissues when I settle down to watch it. Well, this novel is thought-provoking, heartwarming and heartfelt. It explores the ties which bind people and the miscommunication which can rip them…
4:57 PM 25th June 2021
Review: Are You Enjoying By Mira Sethi
Mira Sethi’s collection of short stories brings contemporary Pakistan to life in vibrant colour: it is a compelling insight into a culture about which we might make assumptions, and the fresh perspective she offers will cause us to take a second look. Her characters leap from the pages; their voices,…
8:09 AM 25th June 2021
Mark Knight - Untold Business
Graham Clark
Features Writer
It is unusual for dance artists and producers to come up with a quality album of tracks. There are exceptions of course, Mark Ronson and Calvin Harris spring to mind - now Mark Knight can be added to the list. What is normally the case is that the focus is on…
6:00 PM 24th June 2021
Review: The Stranding By Kate Sawyer
Caroline Spalding
Features Correspondent
The Stranding is the exceptional debut novel by Kate Sawyer, which begins with the end, but then explores what happens thereafter. Whilst this is a story that launches from an apocalypse, the overriding focus is on a theme of hope and human connection. We can relate to the characters we…
7:19 AM 24th June 2021
The Courteeners Announce Surprise Scarborough Show
Graham Clark
Features Writer
If you are one of the thousands of fans who were unable to get a ticket for the Old Trafford Courteeners gig in September there is some good news. The band have announced a gig at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Wednesday 8 September with support band The Coral. The hometown Manchester…
6:00 AM 24th June 2021
Enormous Radio: An Echo In Her Skin By Jarr
Steve Whitaker
Literary Editor
The expression ‘Ambient’, as it describes a specific genre of modern music, is hopelessly inadequate to the task of definition, for it is not possible to set linguistic limits on a form that encompasses all others. The beauty of Ambient lies in the filtering of many strands of light through…
10:35 AM 23rd June 2021
Kendal Calling 2021 Is Cancelled
Scheduled to take place between 29th July - 1st August, Kendal Calling had been set to return in 2021 after 2020’s show was forced to postpone due to Covid-19. Whilst the delay in the UK roadmap for reopening was delayed to a date prior to Kendal Calling’s 2021 dates, the…
8:00 AM 22nd June 2021
'Hurt People, Hurt People...': An Ordinary Wonder By Buki Papillon
Virginia Woolf once said, ‘The eyes of others our prisons; their thoughts our cages’. Simone De Beauvoir coined the term ‘situated freedom’ in her work, The Ethics of Ambiguity, writing that, ‘our capacity to act and make sense of the world is always constrained by our lived experience of the…
6:16 PM 21st June 2021
Interview With Rick Witter From Shed Seven
York band Shed Seven had their first taste of success in the mid 90’s as part of the BritPop scene. Regulars on Top of the Pops and the charts the Yorkshire act appear to have had a second coming with their last album Instant Pleasures, their first in 16 years,…
11:07 AM 21st June 2021
Bullet For My Valentine Announce Shows Up North
Welsh metal legends Bullet For My Valentine will visit Hull and Manchester on their UK tour later this year. The band play Hull Bonus Arena on 2 November and Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse on 4 November 2021. Since Bullet For My Valentine formed in 1998, the Welsh metallers have become one…
6:00 AM 21st June 2021
Leeds Band The Dunwells To Play Surprise Leeds And Ripon Performances
Graham Clark
Features Writer
The Leeds band The Dunwells have released a new track, Summertime., and to celebrate the group will be playing several “Pop Up” performances live in Leeds: on Friday 18th June outside “Sociable Folk at 1pm, Café Nero at 2.30pm and City Square at 4pm. Also in Ripon on Saturday 19th…
8:00 AM 20th June 2021
Review: Nomadland
Jack Bottomley
Media Correspondent
Despite it being available on Disney+, there is something to be said in seeing this year’s Best Picture Academy Award winner Nomadland in a cinema. It is the perfect, involving, atmospheric setting in which to capture such an intimate and soulful movie experience, in a film that has earned the…
1:08 PM 19th June 2021
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