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Hay Festival unveils its first-ever digital programme

This year's digital-only festival has dropped nearly 600 events, but it will be completely free




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Peanut raises £9.6 million to fund its mission to become the leading social network for women

The app now counts 1.6 million users




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You can rent Normal People's Italian villa on Airbnb

And it's just £35 per night




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Apps for parents: track feeding times and connect with other parents with these smart apps

Log on to lockdown lifelines for parents




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Duck or rabbit? How Archie's birthday book is based on an age-old optical illusion

The book appeared in an adorable new video of the Duchess of Sussex reading to baby Archie on his first birthday




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Why you need Vitamin C in your quarantine skincare regime

It's a wonder ingredient – and not just for fending off illness




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Stephen Fry teams up with CBeebies as he voices new mental health game for children

CBeebies tapped the mental health campaigner to narrate the new game




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Warburtons reveals recipe for its iconic crumpets

Long weekend breakfast, sorted




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It's time to make do and mend: why now is the time to start sewing

Don't buy new — stitch it. Vicky Frost has a guide to becoming a sewing machine




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A definitive guide to the books and literary references in Normal People

In a story about the challenges of communication, the characters in Normal People often find solace in reading




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Intermittent fasting: everything you need to know

Think time-restricted eating is just another diet trend? Think again...




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Gyms 'may stay closed until autumn,' as industry body publishes guidelines for fitness studios to open safely

A ban on sweat towels could be introduced under new guidelines from ukactive




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Michelle Obama explains how her fashion has changed since leaving the White House in Netflix's Becoming film

The former First Lady has always been a believer that being highly educated and having an interest in high fashion don't have to be mutually exclusive




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Happity at home: the platform keeping toddlers entertained with live-streamed classes

From learning Spanish to playing music, Happity is helping to keep toddlers occupied at home




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VE Day recipes: 8 classic British party foods to make at home

Why not try these easy, tasty recipes at home?




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Watch this exclusive performance of If The World Was Ending with JP Saxe and hear the love story behind it

For the latest episode of At Home With...JP Saxe opens up about his song with girlfriend Julia Michaels and challenges Amira Hashish to sing her verse of If The World Was Ending




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Tune-free pop and the new Katie Hopkins: our 2020 celebrity predictions

What does our crystal ball say the new year will bring for celebs? Sex tapes, terrible singing and off-the-cuff sofa jokes that ignite the far right. Sounds great!

There are two ways to spend New Year’s Eve, as best as I can tell: you either dirty the floor of a house party and spend the smallest of the small hours running desperately out of drinkable alcohol until you realise it’s 7am and the sun is up and you just watched yourself pour Pepsi Max into half a cup of Bailey’s until they both curdled into a sort of vomitty pâté; or you watched Jools at home with a blanket over your legs, in bed with your teeth brushed by 10 past 12. You get absolutely zero points for guessing which one of the two I saw the new year in with. My body is still shaking.

Fair to say, too, that celebrities have yet to emerge blinkingly into the new decade. In the Christmas lull, the famous go into one of two modes of hibernation: either posting a succession of matching-pyjama family selfies in million-pound mansions that are identically decorated with plush beige carpets and tasteful but anonymous tonal greys; or going on holiday somewhere unthinkably lush and posting: “How’s the weather back home!” while sizzling in a hammock over aquamarine Maldivian waters. What I am saying is that there is no news, all right, and we can’t spend 1,200 words having a go at Cats again, so we simply have to preview the year 2020 and have a stab at guessing what the world of fame has for us. Is it a cop-out? Or is it actually quite a decent effort for someone who still has “brandy” in his system and who many doctors would advise shouldn’t be sitting upright at this still-early stage in his hangover? Well exactly. Let’s get on with it.

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X Factor star Danny Tetley jailed for sexual exploitation of boys

Singer imprisoned for nine years for getting teenagers to send him explicit pictures

A former star of The X Factor has been jailed for nine years for sexually exploiting seven teenage boys.

Danny Tetley, from Bradford, was described as “a despicable creature with very few redeeming features” for encouraging the youngsters to send him explicit pictures in exchange for money.

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Pearl Carr obituary

Singer and entertainer who, in a duo with her husband, Teddy Johnson, transformed the UK’s Eurovision prospects in the 1950s

In 1959 the husband and wife duo of Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson were invited to look at songs with which they could represent the UK in the fourth staging of the Eurovision song contest. These were pleasant ballads that owed nothing to the prevailing climate of rock and roll, and there was a trite but cheerful novelty song, Sing, Little Birdie. The pair saw how they could develop it into a routine with solo lines, immaculate harmonies and sideways glances at each other – and chose it as their UK song for Cannes. They came second, losing to a rendition of Een Beetje by Teddy Scholten for the Netherlands. In the event Sing, Little Birdie topped the charts in the Netherlands, having also made No 12 in the UK.

Carr, who has died aged 98, would like to have been remembered for something more substantial than that song, but it did demonstrate that the UK might actually win Eurovision. Sing Little Birdie’s writers, Stan Butcher and Syd Cordell, submitted Pickin’ Petals for Carr and Johnson as a contender for the UK entry in 1960, but this time Teddy’s younger brother, Bryan, represented the UK with Looking High, High, High – and also came second. The UK eventually won in 1967 with Sandie Shaw’s Puppet on a String.

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Kojo Anim review – BGT star on fame, faith and fatherhood

Fairfield Halls, London
In his show Taxi Tour, the comic from last year’s Britain’s Got Talent offers only standard-issue middle-aged standup

Kojo Anim was a star of the black standup circuit for years, but “Britain’s Got Talent changed my life,” he tells his Croydon crowd. The Londoner has booked his Taxi Tour off the back of an appearance in last year’s final, and recounts how that brush with fame – and his Christian faith, and new fatherhood – picked him back up after a grim period in his life. The emotional honesty is refreshing, but plays only a cameo role in an otherwise unadventurous show. Anim certainly does have talent, but – on this evidence – it’s for performing, not for writing distinctive material.

The show opens with a justification for appearing on BGT, and an account of his experience of overnight celebrity. But it soon devolves into standard issue middle-aged standup comparing his unglamorous childhood with that of today’s pampered youth. His parents play their expected role, giving their son broad accents to mimic when not walloping him for the slightest impertinence. “Only an African parent,” reports our host ruefully, “will beat their own child when they see another child doing something.”

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Netflix is reducing streaming quality amid coronavirus. How will it affect viewing in Australia?

Netflix is cutting down traffic to ease internet capacity as more people work from home. Here’s what it means for Australians’ streaming experience

Netflix has agreed to reduce the data it uses to stream movies and TV shows across Australia as more and more people are working from home due to the coronavirus shutdown. But what will it mean for your viewing habits while you’re staying at home?

Related: Australian government asks Netflix and Stan to reduce data to avoid broadband overload

Related: As cinemas go dark, the film industry may go straight to Netflix

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‘PUBG Mobile’ 0.18.0 Is Rolling Out Now on iOS and Android with Mad Miramar, a New Results UI, and a Whole Lot More

Earlier this week, Tencent announced a big new update for PUBG Mobile (Free) on iOS and Android. The version 0.18.0 …




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SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath’ Coming May 26th, ‘Slayin 2’ and Today’s Other New Releases, the Latest Sales, and More

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 7th, 2020. Like most Thursdays, today is mostly about …






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SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Fury Unleashed’, ‘Stone’, and Today’s Other New Releases, the Latest Sales Featuring ‘Saints Row IV’ and More

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 8th, 2020. Today was basically a nightmare scenario for …




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Boris Johnson's lockdown speech: When is it, what will he say, and how can I watch it?







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Hoard of ancient Middle Eastern items seized at Heathrow found to be fakes by British Museum





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Stranglers' keyboard player Dave Greenfield dies at 71 after testing positive for coronavirus




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White House criticised for limiting coronavirus task force testimony




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Venezuela: Two US citizens arrested after beach invasion aimed at capturing Nicolas Maduro, says regime




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Boris Johnson's lockdown speech: When is it, what will he say, and how can I watch it?




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New Nightingale hospital in Sunderland could become coronavirus rehab centre




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How Neil Ferguson, the architect of lockdown, was brought down by failing to obey his own rules





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How does a coronavirus antibody home test kit work, and how do I get one?








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Wednesday morning news briefing: Top scientific adviser quits after meeting lover in lockdown




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The readers' chatroom: Why are Britons the most afraid of coronavirus?





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Is there a PPE shortage, and how can NHS workers use it safely?





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The British victims of coronavirus and their personal stories