Singer George Michael, pictured, has announced the release of a new album.
The former Wham! star has been out of the spotlight since falling out of a car on the M1 motorway, from where he was airlifted to hospital with a head injury, last year.
Now Michael, 50, is releasing his sixth solo album, Symphonica, which he began recording during his 2011-12 orchestral concert tour of the same name. Symphonica will be released on March 17 and one track from the album, Praying For Time, will be available for free download.
Last year’s motorway accident took place just 18 months after Michael came close to death when he was struck down with pneumonia in Vienna.
Erotic sculptures raise eyebrows
Erotic sculptures have raised a few eyebrows at an auction house before they go on sale.
The lots, including bronzes called Techno Lover and Bunny Waitress, have become a talking point in the salesroom at Bellmans Auctioneers in Wisborough Green, West Sussex. The sculptures, by German artist Rudolfo Bucacio, were sent to the auctioneer by a private client.
Simon Garner, auctioneer and valuer at Bellmans, said: “We do not normally sell this sort of thing. It’s not to everyone’s taste but they do have a collectable value and there are people out there who really quite like this sort of thing. These will probably sell quite well.”
Fugitive gets ‘like’ on Facebook
A wanted man’s Facebook post got a “like” from police in Pennsylvania.
The (Wilkes-Barre) Times Leader reported that officers arrested 35-year-old Anthony Lescowitch less than two hours after he shared a wanted photo of himself and taunted police for not being able to find him.
Police in Freeland said Lescowitch shared the wanted bulletin minutes after they posted it on the department Facebook page. He was being sought on assault charges.
An officer pretending to be an attractive woman then messaged Lescowitch, who refused the offer of a drink but eventually agreed to meet for a cigarette, and was arrested at the agreed-upon location.
Mandela statue rabbit riddle
A nine-metre sculpture of Nelson Mandela is being billed as the biggest statue of the former South African leader. It also has a tiny quirk: a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears.
South African officials have said they want the rabbit removed from the statue, which was unveiled outside the government complex in Pretoria, the capital, on December 16, a day after the former president’s funeral.
South Africa’s department of arts and culture said it did not know the two sculptors had added a rabbit, said to be a discreet signature on their work.
RNLI drops its club badges
Members of a children’s club run by lifeboat charity the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) are no longer to be given badges with a nautical theme. Youngsters in Storm Force traditionally got lapel badges depicting lifeboats or bearing rescue crew titles such as “coxswain” and “mechanic”.
A new collection features cartoon-like “characters” at “Storm Force HQ”, including “Ruff the Dog” and “Sandy the Lifeguard”.