Kate Bush, one of Britain’s most unique and innovative singers, was made a CBE by the Queen yesterday and dedicated the honour to her family and musical collaborators.
From precocious teenager, whose first single Wuthering Heights was a number one, to veteran musician who released her award-winning 10th studio album in 2011, her talent has stood the test of time.
Bush blazed a trail for female singers when she emerged in the late 1970s as she was a rare performer – a woman who wrote her own songs and controlled her image and career. And over the years the 54-year-old musician has recorded with a host of artists like Prince, Peter Gabriel, Elton John and Eric Clapton. (AP)
Keats poem is auction hit
A manuscript poem by John Keats fetched a record £181,250 (€212,500) at auction yesterday. Bonhams, the auctioneers, said the 33 lines of handwritten text is from the draft of the Romantic poet’s early work I Stood Tiptoe On A Little Hill.
The manuscript – with scribblings on both sides showing how he revised his thoughts as he wrote – smashed the previous record for a Keats poem at auction of £85,000 (€99,500) in 2001.
Bonhams said the piece is likely to be the last poetical manuscript by Keats ever to be sold. Among other works, Lord Byron’s Sun Of The Sleepless fetched £26,250 (€30,775) and The Journey Of The Magi by TS Eliot made £44,450 (€52,110). (AP)
Staff’s protest shuts Louvre
The Louvre has been forced to close after staff walked out in protest at what is said to be a rising problem of pickpockets haunting the Paris museum’s vast galleries.
A spokeswoman was unable to say when the museum, which normally attracts up to 30,000 visitors a day, would reopen.
Louvre officials could not provide an exact figure for the number of pickpocketing victims, but the museum said that it was a growing problem despite tighter cooperation with the police.
It said it would crack down on repeat offenders.
The Louvre claims to be the world’s most visited museum, with nearly 10 million visitors last year. (AP)
Gran in grave condition
A UK grandmother spent three months battling her GP’s surgery after its records insisted she was dead, according to The Sun.
Betty Levitt, 76, who has been a patient there for 40 years, said: “Each time they promise to do something about it. But the next time I go in, they put my name in the computer, look at me with a strange expression and say, ‘According to this, you are dead’.”
Ms Levitt, of Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, said: “It might be funny if it happened once but it’s no joke now.” (PA)
A bugler requires whiskers
As job requirements go, an impressive set of whiskers is an unusual one. But for Bugle Major Steve Martin facial hair is a must – no matter what his wife says.
Since the Rifles Regiment was formed in the 19th century, each battalion has had its own bugler.
Tradition dictates that he must have a distinctive mutton-chop beard so that it is easy to pick him out on the battlefield.
The 33-year-old, from Yorkshire, is the latest to take on the job on the frontline after deploying to Afghanistan. (AP)