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Entertainment

The latest published reporting in this category.

Entertainment

‘It brings soul into this sterile world’: the Birmingham clubbers fighting to save their patch – and Britain’s nightlife

Digbeth is the city’s most thriving party district, but railway upgrades could tear it apart. Here, clubbers explain why they are doing everything to stop that happening House beats ring out through the open air while a heaving crowd of young partygoers dance. Suddenly, they begin to chant: “Richard Parker, Richard Parker!” You might think he is the next DJ on the set list, but in fact he is the mayor of the West Midlands and this block party has been assembled to send him a message: leave Digbeth alone. It’s Sunday night and I’m in Birmingham’s trendy party district. It’s filled with bars, wa

The Guardian
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Entertainment

‘At my age, I can rant!’ Bernie Taupin on Elton John, hellraising vampires and competing in full-blown rodeos

He is the outstanding lyricist who propelled the Rocket Man to 300m sales. As Taupin releases a wistfully grouchy solo album, he talks about the joy of anonymity, his LA drinking gang – and owning a prize-winning bucking bull Bernie Taupin has an interesting take on the strange brand of fame he enjoys. “I am,” he says, “what I call the credit card guy.” I’m sorry? You’re the what? “The credit card guy. I go somewhere, like a shop or a restaurant, and it’s fine. I can be me, no one notices. Then I pay with my credit card and they see the name and go” – he lets out a mock gasp – “‘You’re that gu

The Guardian
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Entertainment

Dustin Hoffman says filming The Graduate was ‘a terrible experience’ due to Mike Nichols’ ‘sadism’

In his new memoir, the actor reveals he was slapped 27 times until he was dizzy for a scene director Nichols ‘didn’t even use’ Almost 60 years after The Graduate was released, Dustin Hoffman has revealed that making the 1967 film that launched his career was “a terrible experience” and he felt “immediately uncomfortable, unworthy” as a Jewish actor playing “the ultimate Wasp”, Ben Braddock. In an essay for the New Yorker, drawn from his upcoming memoir Look at Me, which was co-written with New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy, the 89-year-old actor wrote: “The Graduate exacerbated all my insecur

The Guardian
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Entertainment

The Gilded Age review – what did we do to deserve such a terrible stinker?

Julian Fellowes’ high-society period drama has, somehow, picked up Emmys and reached its fourth series. Poor Meryl Streep must feel so awkward watching her daughter Louisa Jacobson in such a uniformly awful show A doctor with a fully qualified moustache races up a carriageway towards an immaculate stately home. “I fear we should have sent for you sooner!” says the lady who greets him on the doorstep as the screams of a woman in drug-free labour rattle the windows in their frames. Oh, ya think? is not Dr Moustache’s reply. When this many cliches assemble so quickly, it can only mean one thing:

The Guardian
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