Manny Pacquiao

He was renowned as being boxing’s only eight-division world champion when he retired in 2016 after beating Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand to reclaim his WBO welterweight crown, but when you’ve won 58 fights it must be hard not to go for 60… which could explain why Philippines legend Manny Pacquiao returned to the…

Australian Open

The first of the great sporting institutions of the year, the Australian Open tennis championships celebrate their 114th anniversary in 2019… with prize money at Melbourne Park up 10 per cent on 2018 to A$60.5 million and a brand new ‘player pod’, part of ongoing redevelopment work that offers players the best training and treatment…

Pabst survives to party on

Remember Hofmeister, Harp, Carling, Skol, Kestrel and McEwans… just some of the formerly popular lager brands that flew off British shelves never to return, well another once-famous name on both sides of the pond almost went the same way last month. American lager Pabst Blue Ribbon, known for its economical price, was locked in a…

Woody flavour to Manchester festival

Alongside the mass of modern breweries and beer styles, a wall of wooden casks will greet traditionalists at Manchester Central in January when the north’s biggest beer festival comes to town. For more than 50 years breweries have been moving progressively to racking beer into metal casks and today these dominate the market but a…

Exeter in festive spirit

Exeter and East Devon CAMRA are holding their Festival of Winter Ales from 18-19 January 2019 at St James’ Park, home of Exeter City FC. Organisers have assembled more than 76 real ales, plus cider and perry, for the 30th instalment of the festival, which also has live music from Go Tell Alice on Friday…

Let’s drink to Koningshoeven Abbey

One of only a handful of places around the world to brew Trappist beer, Koningshoeven Abbey in the Dutch village of Berkel-Enschot, in Noord-Brabant, is putting the environment ahead of profit by becominhg the first brewery in western Europe to construct a plant-based water filtration system that avoids the current waste of seven litres of…

London A Cappella Festival

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, the London A Cappella Festival resonates around the capital from 23-26 January 2019. Bringing an epic line-up of international headliners and vocal super-groups to the city, this year’s programme features internationally acclaimed composer and singer Laura Mvula with Europe’s finest female vocal quintet Black Voices; American pop-jazz vocal sensations M-Pact, legendary…

It’s Live At Leeds in May

Live At Leeds brings the best new talent from the UK and beyond to the city for one day in May. Taking place at various venues across Leeds city centre, the festival gets underway on the first bank holiday weekend of the month… on Saturday, 4 May 2019. As with many city-based festivals, the Live…

Brooklands: Built For Racing

Originally constructed in 1907, the Brooklands race track was the ‘Ascot of Motorsport’ in its heyday and the place where speed demon Sir Malcolm Campbell cut his teeth as a racing driver. Built by local landowner Hugh Locke King on 330 acres of farm and woodland on his estate at Weybridge in Surrey, it was…

A Great Escape in Brighton

Taking place across multiple venues in Brighton in May, the Great Escape Festival features a huge line-up of new music with hundreds of up-and-coming acts lined up for the city from 9-11 May 2019. A leading festival for emerging talent, the Great Escape showcases about 500 developing artists from all over the world at more…