Sam Hardwick News Today

Judi Dench talking Shakespeare, conversations with bestsellers Marian Keyes and David Nicholls, and a deep dive into the day’s news with Independent journalists and leading thinkers – this year’s Hay Festival programme is fit to burst with unmissable events. Jessie Thompson picks the highlights

Leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy will speak to ‘The Independent’ at annual cultural event

Bristol24/7 sets out a bumper crop of don’t miss diary dates for festival season

"A rare Davy Crockett letter that perfectly illustrates the honesty and the fire which made him a folk hero," Bonhams noted.

From Angels Fall First to Human. :||: Nature., we rank symphonic metal icons Nightwish’s most epic compositions… Words: Sam Law Symphonic metal existed before Nightwish – pioneered by outfits like Sweden’s Therion and Italy’s Rhapsody – but no band has made it bigger, better or more bombastic than the great Finnish collective. When keyboardist and bandleader Tuomas Holopainen first envisioned the band while sitting around a campfire with friends, the idea was that it’d be a ve...

With both internal staffing issues and the external pressure of the pandemic, the Hay Festival plans a second online iteration of its main program for May and June. Challenging Times As we were writing Tuesday (February 16), the world book fair and trade show calendar is fluid at the moment, with many nations’ and pharmaceutical companies’ coronavirus COVID-19 vaccination programs moving (or not) at varying levels of speed and effectiveness. Many festivals look headed for digital renditions...