Three different stage versions of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby are set to take place later this year, it has been announced.
Gatz will open at the West End’s Noel Coward Theatre in June and Wilton’s Music Hall will host The Great Gatsby in April.
A musical adaption will open at the King’s Head Theatre in Islington, north London in August.
Published in 1925, the book has long been regarded as a US literary classic.
Set in New York, the story is about the dreams and delusions of the nouveau riche in the 1920s.
The Great Gatsby Musical will be directed by Young Vic Genesis director, Linnie Reedman and award-winning composer Joe Evans has been lined up to write the music.
Casting for the Wilton production is currently underway.
The adaption will feature singing and dancing, as well as Gatsby-themed rooms, which members of the audience will be encouraged to explore before and after the show.
The announcement follows a six-hour off-Broadway Gatsby production, which was a hit at the end of last year.
The Great Gatsby’s popularity has soared recently, thanks in part to a new spin-off novel that traces the fortunes of the character Daisy Buchanan’s daughter Pamela.
Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann has also started production on a new film adaptation starring British actress Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular Jay Gatsby.
The picture is scheduled for release at the end of the year.
A version in 1974, starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow won Oscars for costume design and music.
Comedian Steve Coogan and ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne are among the latest people to have settled claims for damages over phone-hacking, the High Court hears.
Ex-Labour press chief Alastair Campbell and MP Simon Hughes have also settled with News Group Newspapers (NGN), which published the News of the World.
Mr Coogan received £40,000, and Mr Gascoigne was given £68,000.
Mr Campbell said his action was “not, and never has been, about the money”.
‘Cultural depravity’
Mr Hughes received £45,000 plus costs while football agent Phil Hughes, a friend and former agent of ex-footballer George Best, received substantial damages plus costs.
These latest developments mean 15 more phone hacking cases have now been settled, including nine of the 10 which were due to go to civil trial on Monday. There were 37 other claims settled with NGN last month.
The announcement, at a hearing in London, came during the latest in a number of pre-trial reviews.
Hugh Tomlinson QC told the court his client, singer Charlotte Church, had not reached an agreement with NGN.
Mr Campbell said his settlement was a “satisfactory outcome” and NGN had agreed to “continue searches of other ‘documents in its possession’ so that I can ascertain the extent of any further wrongdoing”.
He added: “They have agreed I ‘may be entitled to further damages in certain circumstances.’”
Tony Blair’s former spokesman said he would be using the settlement money to make donations to several organisations, including the Labour Party and Mind, “so that at least some small good for the causes I believe in can come out of the criminality and cultural depravity of others”.
He continued: “For me, this has been about people with a voice and a platform using them to change the media culture which, as I argued at the Leveson Inquiry, has become putrid in parts.”
Those receiving settlements include:
Paul Gascoigne’s friend James Gardner, known as “Jimmy 5 Bellies” has also accepted damages and costs.
Sally King, a friend of former Home Secretary David Blunkett, receives £60,000, her husband Andrew receives £50,000 and her father and brother receive substantial undisclosed damages.
Former MP George Galloway has received £25,000 plus costs for five messages being hacked in 2003.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Mr Hughes said he had settled “because I am completely satisfied that the evidence which currently exists in relation to my case has been disclosed to or is being made available to my lawyers.”
He said there was no confidentiality clause and that News International would be obliged to disclose documents to him and would be open to further action if further information was uncovered.
Former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher has topped the UK album chart with his debut solo album, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
The record outsold its nearest rival, X Factor winner Matt Cardle’s first album, Letters, by some 40%, according to the Official Charts Company.
Figures showed Gallagher’s album notched up sales of more than 120,000.
The first single from the record – AKA What a Life – also climbed up the singles chart from 55 to 24.
Gallagher’s chart performance beats that of his brother, Liam, whose post-Oasis band Beady Eye peaked at number three when they released Different Gear, Still Speeding last year.
Both Gallagher and Cardle’s albums nudged Steps – last week’s number one – down to three with their greatest hits record.
The only other new entry in the chart was Irish crooner Daniel O’Donnell, who notched up his 14th top 10 UK album with his greatest hits Ultimate Collection at seven.
In the singles chart, Rihanna held onto the top spot for a third week with We Found Love featuring Calvin Harris.
Boyband The Wanted were the highest new entry at two with their sixth single, Lightning.
While Charlene Soraia’s cover of The Calling’s 2001 song Wherever You Will Go climbed the chart again from number seven to three thanks to its use on a tea advert and by a contestant on X Factor last week.
The original version of the song also climbed to 16 after re-entering the top 40 the previous week.
There were also two other new entries in the top 10 – Kelly Clarkson’s Mr Know It All came in at number six, while Video Games by Lana Del Rey entered at number nine.
The third film in the Paranormal Activity franchise took $ 54m (£33.8m) in the US and Canada at the weekend – a record debut for a horror film.
As with its low-budget predecessors, it features a haunted house as well as video camera-style footage.
The film was also the biggest October opening in North American history.
Boxing robot film Real Steel fell to two while Footloose dropped a place to three. 3D film The Three Musketeers was the second highest new entry at four.
Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracker Hollywood.com, said he had expected Paranormal Activity 3 to come in around the $ 35m (£21.9m) mark.
“There are certain brands that just transcend any kind of box office rhyme or reason – they just resonate,” he said.
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1. Paranormal Activity 3 – $ 54m
2. Real Steel – $ 11.3m
3. Footloose – $ 10.9m
4. The Three Musketeers – $ 8.8m
5. The Ides of March – $ 4.9m
Source: Hollywood.com
“These are shot in someone’s house, they look like they’re shot with a home video recorder and people just relate to it.”
Prequel Paranormal Activity 3 centres around the discovery of disturbing home movie footage shot in 1988.
The first film became a word-of-mouth phenomenon in 2009.
Opening receipts from the latest take on the franchise beat the previous biggest horror debut – its predecessor Paranormal Activity 2 – which took $ 40.7m (£25.5m) when it opened a year ago.
It also beat the $ 50.4m (£31.6m) taken by Jackass 3D last year to score the biggest opening for an October release.
Action-adventure film The Three Musketeers, which stars Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson and Luke Evans, took $ 8.8m (£5.5m) on its debut weekend.
Other new releases included Johnny English Reborn, starring Rowan Atkinson as the hapless spy, which opened in eighth spot with $ 3.8m (£2.4m).
A report into the death of Amy Winehouse may have been sent to a complete stranger, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.
The file, thought to outline the circumstances of how the singer died, was meant to be dispatched to the star’s family.
But Scotland Yard said it “may have been delivered to an incorrect address” last Friday.
That evening, the material was handed in to a police station in north London.
Winehouse, 27, was found dead at her home, in Camden, north London, on 23 July.
‘Inquiries under way’
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Police were informed that material relating to a forthcoming inquest may have been delivered to an incorrect address.
“Inquiries are now under way to establish the full circumstances of this matter.”
The singer, whose hits include Rehab and Valerie, had had a well-publicised struggle with drink and drugs.
Toxicology tests showed “no illegal substances” in her system at the time of her death.
Since her death, Winehouse’s 2006 album Back to Black has become the UK’s bestselling album of the 21st Century.
The inquest into the death of the singer will be held this week.
Eighteen-year-old country singer Scotty McCreery has become the first American Idol winner to top the US charts with a debut album since 2003.
McCreery, who beat Lauren Alaina in May’s final, sold 197,000 copies of Clear As Day in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
He is also the youngest solo male artist to go straight to the top of the Billboard 200 with their debut release.
And the first country act to debut at the top with their first studio album.
Ruben Studdard was the last American Idol winner to go to number one with a debut album, when Soulful sold 417,000 copies in its opening week – entering the chart on 27 December 2003.
Kelly Clarkson – the show’s first winner in 2002 – also went to number one, on 3 May 2003, with Thankful, which sold 297,000.
Lee DeWyze, winner in 2010, only managed sales of 39,000 copies and an opening chart position of number 19.
The previous youngest male solo artist to open at number one with their first album was Omarion, then 20, with O, in 2005.
Prior to embarking on a solo career, the R&B singer was a member of US boyband B2K.
McCreery, known for his deep bass voice, released American Idol winner’s single I Love You This Big – which reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 – on 25 May.
The UK’s analogue TV signals will be officially turned off on 24 October 2012.
The last region to enjoy the old style TV broadcasting system will be Northern Ireland and its analogue transmitters will be shut down on that date.
The switch-off brings the curtain down on a transmission technology that lasted for 80 years.
Once free of TV signals, the spectrum currently used for them will be used to support high speed mobile networks.
TV broadcasting began in August 1932 with a series of experimental analogue transmissions to test out the novel technology. The BBC began broadcasting TV to a schedule in 1936.
Freed spectrum
The UK’s conversion from analogue to digital TV began in 2008, and early tests of the impact of the switch-off were held in the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven, which was also the first to receive digital-only signals.
Since the official conversion programme began most UK regions have had their analogue signals swapped for digital.
People, who do not subscribe to satellite or cable services have had to buy new televisions or set-top boxes to continue watching programmes.
About five regions, including London and Tyne Tees, remain to switch. Northern Ireland will be the last to swap to digital technology.
Digital is taking the place of analogue so viewers can be offered more channels and higher quality pictures.
The spectrum freed by the turn off of analogue signals will be re-used for a future mobile technology called Long Term Evolution. Ofcom is due to run an auction in late 2012 that will see the radio spectrum sold to operators to use for the service.
Switch-over fund
Ofcom is currently carrying out a consultation exercise to see how many people will suffer interference when LTE is turned on. It estimated that about 3% of UK viewers, about 760,000 people, will see poorer quality TV pictures when LTE is in wide use.
Filters that strip out the interfering signals are expected to solve the problem for most people but others may have to find other ways to watch digital TV.
The government set aside millions of pounds to help vulnerable people make the changes needed for the switchover. Much of that has now been subsumed into the fund to bring next-generation broadband to rural areas.
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has admitted that he thinks the popular US cartoon should have ended by now.
The 37-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter that the show, which has just finished its 10th series, has been running for too long.
“Part of me thinks that Family Guy should have already ended. I think seven seasons is about right,” he said.
The surreal show follows the Griffin family, including Dad Peter, which MacFarlane provides the voice for.
“I talk to the fans and in a way I’m kind of secretly hoping for them to say we’re done with it,” he said.
“There are plenty of people who say the show is kind of over the hill, but still the vast majority go pale in the face when I mention the possibility.”
The writer, who is also responsible for other US cartoons including American Dad and The Cleveland Show, said he would prefer to end the show and release a film every few years.
There is a deal in place for a Family Guy movie, which MacFarlane is reported to be writing along with series co-producer Ricky Blitt.
He is also set to bring back a revamped version of 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones.
When he made the announcement in May, MacFarlane revealed Fred Flintstone had been “the very first cartoon character I drew at age two”.
Adele, Friendly Fires and The xx, who are all signed to the same record label, have been shortlisted for the Aim Independent Music Awards.
XL Recordings, which also looks after The Horrors and Vampire Weekend, saw their artists win seven nominations.
The Association of Independent Music announced it was launching The Aim awards to honour British indie artists, in July.
The awards will be handed out at a ceremony in London on 10 November.
Bjork will receive the outstanding contribution to music award, and Domino Recording Company’s founder Laurence Bell is this year’s recipient of the Pioneer Award.
The awards were created in response to the lack of recognition for independent artists at mainstream awards, such as the Brits.
Speaking in July, Chairman and CEO of AIM Alison Wenham told the BBC that the ceremony would “reflect the diversity and brilliance” of the UK’s independent scene.
In the best difficult second album category Adele’s 21 competes against Friendly Fires’ Pala, both of which were released by XL Recordings.
Other nominees include Bon Iver’s eponymous album, Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes and Toddla T’s Watch Me Dance.
Adele’s second nomination comes for the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) most played artist prize.
Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend and The xx complete the category.
Two more XL artists, The Horrors and SBTRKT, will vye for the independent breakthrough of the year award, alongside The Horizon and Caro Emerald.
Ms Wenham said: “In its first year, the AIM Awards have already shone a bright light on some of the most talented and hardworking people in the industry.
“The response to the awards has been incredible, and signals the start of a new era in recognising a whole new measure of talent and success in music”.
AIM was established in 1999 and represents over 800 members working within the UK’s independent music industry.
Lawyers for Dr Conrad Murray have stepped back from claims that Michael Jackson swallowed a fatal dose of propofol when he was out of sight.
The claim had been a key argument in Dr Murray’s defence at the trial over the superstar’s death. They may still argue he injected the dose himself.
The change came a day after the doctor who performed Jackson’s autopsy said he could not have self-administered it.
Dr Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
If convicted Dr Murray could face up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical licence.
Both the prosecution and Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor appeared surprised by Wednesday’s disclosure, reports said.
‘Trivial’ effect
J Michael Flanagan, one of Dr Murray’s lawyers, said he had commissioned a study about the effects of swallowed propofol.
Mr Flanagan said the effects from swallowing propofol, a powerful anaesthetic that Dr Murray injected to relieve Jackson’s insomnia, would be “trivial”.
“We are not going to assert at any time during this trial that Michael Jackson orally administered propofol,” Mr Flanagan said.
Dr Christopher Rogers: “It’s reasonable to believe that the doctor had an imperfect control over the dose”
The disclosure was made in court but not in front of jurors, the Associated Press reported.
Lead defence lawyer Ed Chernoff said during opening statements on 27 September that his team would try to show that Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol.
On Tuesday, Dr Christopher Rogers said it was more likely Jackson’s Dr Murray mistakenly gave Jackson too much of the drug in an effort to help him sleep.
“The circumstances, from my point of view, do not support self-administration of propofol,” the chief of forensic medicine at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said.
By Tim MastersEntertainment and arts correspondent, BBC News
A group of leading lights from the literary world have launched a book prize in response to what they see as the changing priorities of the Man Booker Prize.
The organisers of the new Literature Prize claimed the Booker “now prioritises a notion of ‘readability’ over artistic achievement”.
Man Booker administrator Ion Trewin dismissed that idea as “tosh”.
The winner of the £50,000 annual Booker prize will be announced on 18 October.
“This is not about attacking the Booker or any books on the shortlist,” literary agent Andrew Kidd, spokesman for the Literature Prize, told the BBC.
“The Booker has made certain choices about how it wants to position itself and that’s great – but we think there’s a place for both of us and there can be a happy co-existence.”
The Literature Prize names among its supporters writers John Banville, Pat Barker, Mark Haddon, Jackie Kay and David Mitchell.
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Julian Barnes – The Sense of an Ending
Carol Birch – Jamrach’s Menagerie
Patrick deWitt – The Sisters Brothers
Esi Edugyan – Half Blood Blues
Stephen Kelman – Pigeon English
AD Miller – Snowdrops
An announcement about the committee and funding for next year’s prize is expected within weeks.
‘Quality and ambition’
The Literature Prize will be open to any novel in the English language and published in the UK. The Booker competition is only open to those from the British Commonwealth and Ireland.
“The prize will offer readers a selection of novels that, in the view of these expert judges, are unsurpassed in their quality and ambition,” said the Literature Prize’s launch statement.
“For many years this brief was fulfilled by the Booker (latterly the Man Booker) Prize. But as numerous statements by that prize’s administrator and this year’s judges illustrate, it now prioritises a notion of ‘readability’ over artistic achievement,” it said.
Dismissing that as “tosh”, Man Booker’s Trewin told The Bookseller: “” think I have gone on record in the past as saying that I believe in literary excellence and readability -the two should go hand in hand.”
Jonathan Taylor, chairman of The Booker Prize Foundation, said: “Since 1969 the prize has encouraged the reading of literary fiction of the highest quality and that continues to be its objective today.
“We welcome any credible prize which also supports the reading of quality fiction.”
Julian Barnes is among six authors featured on this year’s Man Booker Prize shortlist. He is the bookies’ favourite for his novel The Sense of an Ending.
Stephen Kelman, AD Miller, Carol Birch, Patrick deWitt and Esi Edugyan are also on the shortlist.
There were raised eyebrows in literary circles when previous Booker winner Alan Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child did not make the final six.
Last week, chair of the Booker judges and former MI5 chief Dame Stella Rimington hit back at critics of the judges’ choices, which include two first-time novelists.
She told The Guardian: “As somebody interested in literary criticism, it’s pathetic that so-called literary critics are abusing my judges and me. They live in such an insular world they can’t stand their domain being intruded upon.”
Her fellow Booker jurors are writer and journalist Matthew d’Ancona, author Susan Hill, author and politician Chris Mullin and Gaby Wood of the Telegraph.
Kidd denied that the Literature Prize was about elitism.
“It’s a silly accusation,” he said.
“It is more about our feeling that a space has opened up for a new prize which is unequivocally about excellence – even if that sometimes means shortlisted books are more challenging and don’t necessarily fall under the easy description of readable.”
