arts by Tim Lezard
Film > Richard Jewell On general release The role of the US media comes under scrutiny in this film about security guard Richard Jewell, who was vilified by journalists who falsely reported he was a terrorist. Directed by Clint Eastwood and based on true events, the film shows how Jewell found an explosive device at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, saving thousands of lives but, within days, became the FBI’s number one suspect.
www.warnerbros.co.uk/movies/ richard-jewell
Mr Jones On general release If you thought fake news was a modern concept, this film about journalist Gareth Jones will make you think again. The ambitious Welshman travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933 and stumbled upon the Holodomor – the manmade famine that killed millions in Ukraine. Blanket coverage of the Communist Party’s denial and
Brutus On tour
Belgium-based Brutus merge different ideas and musical tastes: post-rock construction, metal dynamics with hardcore energy and prog rock, all laced with pure pop melodies. But don’t let that put you off. Catch their unique sound this spring.
www.wearebrutus.com
Comedy > Alexei Sayle On tour The Young Ones star embarks on his
Spotlight > Music reporting on the record
“Elvis Presley cost me my job” is a headline better suited to The Sport, but it appears in Graham Sharpe’s book Vinyl Countdown. The NUJ life member,
who you might know as a spokesperson for William Hill, explains how he went
18 | theJournalist
to tribunal after a slanging match with his Harrow Weekly Post editor over a review copy of an Elvis LP. “The editor tells me you
called her a ******* ****,” the MD told him. “You should apologise to her immediately.” “If you think that, you’re
a bigger ******* **** than she is.” “I think you should leave
immediately.” There are other tales of
his time as a cub reporter, including his passing-up of the first ever interview with the young Elton John and an astonishingly
first stand-up tour in seven years, promising: “This tour won’t be another arsehole comic talking about his girlfriend or the funny things his kids do or the funny things cats do or how he doesn’t understand the internet or bleeding Brexit… This is ALEXEI F*CKING SAYLE you’ll be seeing.” With PR like that…
www.alexeisayle.me/appearances/
rubbishing of Jones’s work led to his expulsion from the country and possibly early death in China.
www.facebook.com/MrJonesFilm/
Music > Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers Uke Town This limited edition double album from the Men They Couldn’t Hang guitarist features 18 tracks, all written or played on a ukulele.
https://tinyurl.com/vh2w4z6
Grace Campbell On tour Comedian Grace Campbell is a woman in her own right. She’s also the daughter of Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alastair, which explains the title of her show Why I’m Never Going Into Politics. Expect vagina jokes, mental health within Parliament, anecdotes of hanging out with Putin’s kids plus trying (and failing) to bring the Labour Party back together.
www.disgracecampbell.com
Jonathan Pie If no news is good news, then good news is fake news. And so exasperated reporter Jonathan Pie returns to the road once more to berate the people in power.
www.jonathanpie.com
Books > Down in the Valley Laurie Lee Penguin Classics In this tribute to the Gloucestershire landscape that shaped him, Laurie Lee, the author of Cider With Rosie,
frank admission from The Sweet frontman Brian Connolly. Graham owns more
than 3,000 LPs, and this amusing, entertaining and warm tome is a semi- autobiographical love letter to records, record collecting/collectors, and secondhand record shops. www.oldcastlebooks.
co.uk/vinyl-countdown
King John Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon Until March 21 Rosie Sheehy stars as King John in this rarely performed Shakespeare play. Set in the 1960s, this take on a nation in Europe-induced turmoil includes a massive food fight, a handbag- wielding cardinal and Charlotte Randle’s heartbroken Constance.
www.rsc.org.uk/king-john
Poetry > Yr Arwr The greatest honour for any Welsh poet is to win the chair at the National Eisteddfod; in 1917, no one collected the prize. Winner Ellis Humphrey Evans, known as Hedd Wynn, had died in the Battle of Passchendaele six weeks earlier. Read the original manuscript of the winning poem at the National Library of Wales.
https://tinyurl.com/v4r9lzx
revisits his favourite pub, The Woolpack, winter skating, the church throughout the seasons and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone.
https://tinyurl.com/wscovey
Outspoken Deborah Coughlin Ebury Publishing History didn’t listen to women, but that never stopped them from speaking out. With contributions from Boudicca to Michelle Obama, via Joan of Arc, Virginia Woolf, Oprah Winfrey and Greta Thunberg, this is a celebration of outstanding and outspoken women everywhere.
https://tinyurl.com/wfzd2jb
Theatre > Kunene and the King Ambassadors Theatre, London Until March 28 In John Kani’s stunning reflection on 25 years since the fall of apartheid, ailing actor Jack Morris (played by Anthony Sher) is joined by live-in nurse Lunga Kunene (played by Kani). These very different characters are brought together by a passion for Shakespeare.
https://kuneneandtheking.co.uk
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