Festive flavour to gin and rum

Just three weeks before Northamptonshire welcome Middlesex for their first home game of the season, the club will be hosting a very different occasion when gin and rum will be the order of the day at the County Ground. Sponsored by Schweppes 1783, the venue hosts a Gin and Rum Festival on 16 March, where…

Nottinghamshire venue for the Big Fake

Nottinghamshire’s Thoresby Park is the setting for one of the biggest gatherings of “fake” bands seen in the UK, with The Big Fake Festival bringing 24 unreal acts together for three days of the nation’s favourite hits from 30 August to 1 September 2019. The conclusion to a summer of “Fake Festivals” across the country,…

X Factor auditions underway for 2019

The X Factor Live Tour 2019 begins in Nottingham this week, with the stars of the 2018 series Dalton Harris, Scarlett Lee, Anthony Russell, Danny Tetley, Acacia & Aaliyah, Brendan Murray, Shan Ako and Bella Penfold going on the road to venues across the UK and Ireland until 6 March. And if the sight of…

X Factor goes out on the road

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s no doubting that the X Factor has huge appeal and has launched the careers of many talented artists who would otherwise never have had the opportunity to live their dreams. In 2018 Dalton Harris, Scarlett Lee, Anthony Russell, Danny Tetley, Acacia & Aaliyah, Brendan Murray, Shan Ako…

A tonic for gin lovers

It’s a generally accepted fact that Russians consume the most vodka, but what nation consumes the most gin? Any ideas? Britain, the US, China? Nope… the world’s biggest gin consumer is in fact the Philippines, drinking almost half of the 60 million cases sold annually. More than 22 million cases of Ginebra San Miguel are…

Ice-capades with Mickey and Minnie

A dazzling world of Disney adventure sets off around the UK in March, with Mickey and Minnie Mouse bringing an icey extravaganza of magic and family fun to audiences around the country. The Wonderful World of Disney On Ice! gets underway at the SSE Arena in Wembley on 13 March and finishes up at the…

Durrant joins Van Gerwen in PDC

The 2018-19 World Championship was the Professional Darts Corporation’s biggest-ever event, featuring 96 players competing for £2.5 million in prize money at London’s iconic Alexandra Palace. Dutchman Michael van Gerwen was at his relentless best in the tournament, seeing off Gary Anderson in the semi-finals before a 7-3 victory over Michael Smith saw him lift…

Massive summer of cricket

Cricket fans around the world are looking forward to this summer’s big event, the 12th one-day World Cup, which will be held in England and Wales from 30 May to 14 July. First contested in 1975, the tournament format has changed over time but in 2019 will comprise all 10 teams playing each other in…

Festival of arts in Scarborough

Whoever thought of staging an arts festival on the coast… in the north of England… in the middle of February? Well whoever it was… it turns out it wasn’t a half bad idea after all! A three-day event held at the seaside in Yorkshire, Coastival has welcomed many thousands of visitors to Scarborough during the…

Thrill-filled show of shocky horrors

When it started back in Glastonbury in 1995, people thought it wouldn’t run for 25 weeks let alone 25 years, but a quarter of a century later the Circus of Horrors is still running amok around the globe. An amazing amalgamation of bizarre and breathtaking circus acts, the “shocky horror” show pulls together a series…