Officials at Arts Council England (ACE) said it would start monitoring for the first time next year, adding to the data it collects around gender, ethnicity and disability. Concern is regularly voiced that the arts is dominated by people from better off backgrounds. – The Guardian
Author: Douglas McLennan
This 1875 Family Picture Might Be The Earliest At Stonehenge
English Heritage is now asking people to get in touch if they know of an earlier family snap at Stonehenge. The earliest known photograph of Stonehenge, not featuring a family, is thought to date from 1853 – 22 years earlier. – BBC
How Will You Remember The 2010s? A Series Of Crises
“How will we remember the last 10 years? Above all, as a time of crises. During the 2010s, there have been crises of democracy and the economy; of the climate and poverty; of international relations and national identity; of privacy and technology. There were crises at the start of the decade, and there are crises now. Some of them are the same crises, unsolved. Others are like nothing we have experienced before. Some of them are welcome: old hierarchies collapsing. Others are catastrophes.” – The Guardian
Understanding Early Rembrandt – Not Much To Know
Only “a few dozen documents have survived: entries in administrative registers (bonboeken) relating to his family, the house and the mill… in which he was raised and notarial instruments. We have not a single letter, diary or notebook.” – New Statesman
Researchers: Humans Had Language Millions Of Years Ago
Authors argue that the anatomical ingredients for speech were present in our ancestors much earlier than 200,000 years ago. In fact, they propose that the necessary equipment—specifically, the throat shape and motor control that produce distinguishable vowels—has been around as long as 27 million years, when humans and Old World monkeys (baboons, mandrills, and the like) last shared a common ancestor. – The Atlantic
Our Traditional Conceptions Of Time Have Been Wrong
What we do know is that Aristotle viewed the present as something continually changing and that by the year 160, the Roman emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius was describing time as a river of passing events. And in the West, at least, many would still identify with these ideas. But physics tells a different story. – BBC
Don’t Mess With Opera Fans, Episode 396
Matthew Feargrieve was found guilty in London of punching Ulrich Engler at least once while attending a performance of Wagner at the Royal Opera House on 7 October last year. Feargrieve, 43, attacked Ulrich Engler, who had climbed into an empty seat next to him and moved Feargrieve’s partner’s coat at the Royal Opera House in central London. – The Guardian
How Banksy And I Got Away With Amazing Pranks
Steve Lazarides has now self-published a book of his photographs from the time he travelled the world tasked with making sure Banksy didn’t get arrested or duffed up and didn’t run out of spray paint. “I had the time of my life,” he says as he sits on the roof of his London office, talking about the man he calls Matey Boy. “We were lawless and did just what we wanted. Matey Boy had a political agenda that you can see very clearly in everything he does, but I just had a fucking blast.” – The Guardian
New Giant Movie Theatre Chain: UK’s Cineworld Buys Canada’s Cineplex, Will Merge It With Regal
Cineworld previously paid $3.6 billion for Regal Entertainment Group, its entry into the U.S. market last year. The company plans to combine the operations of Cineplex and Regal to create the largest exhibitor in North America. Following completion, the enlarged group would have 11,204 screens globally and a combined 8,906 screens across the U.S. and Canada. – Variety
How Technology Is Changing Modern Romance Fiction
The best contemporary romance authors know that technology can inject a straight shot of chemistry into a relationship — even when partners are balancing life, work and saving the world. – Washington Post