Arts Extra

BOS Musical Theatre Company, who have just finished a successful run of their last production 42nd Street at Southport’s Little Theatre, are preparing to hold auditions for their autumn production of Annie.

Anyone interested in being part of the cast are invited to attend the open auditions on Friday, June 10 and Sunday, June 12.

There is a £5 audition fee for non-society members. The autumn production will take place during the week of October 1-8 2016, with nightly performances at 7.30pm and a matinee showing at 2pm on Saturday, October 8.

For further information contact BOS secretary Liz Clarke on liz.clarke@ bosmtc.co.uk or on 07929 029 997.

You can also visit the BOS website at www. bosmtc.co.uk

BESTSELLING author, broadcaster and popular culture guru Stuart Maconie will return to Edge Hill University on Thursday, June 9 to compare the old and new North, with some potentially surprising results.

Factory, mine, and mill. Industry, toil, and grime. Its manufacturing roots mean the north of England is still seen as a hardworking place.

But, more than possibly anywhere else, the North has always known how to get dressed up, take itself out on the town, and have a good time.

Revisiting his writings and enthusiasms, the audience will journey with Stuart from the dog track to the bowls club, art gallery, dance floor, football terrace and hillsides, to look at how the North is changing and what that says about who we are now.

As well as naming a student halls of residence after him, Edge Hill University awarded Stuart an honorary master’s degree in 2009. The popular media star is an alumnus of the university, having studied on the Ormskirk campus in the early 1980s.

He was awarded the degree for success in his professional life, his promotion of the North West and championing the region’s talent.

Born in Whiston Hospital, Stuart grew up in Wigan, where his parents still live.

After graduation he worked at Skelmersdale College as an English and sociology teacher, before pursuing his dream of a career as a music journalist.

He has worked for titles including The Times, The Guardian, Evening Standard and Elle magazine, and was also deputy editor of NME. He is currently a columnist for Radio Times, Cumbria Life and Country Walking and writes for The Mirror.

Stuart has also written a number of books, including Cider With Roadies, a memoir of his time as a music journalist, and Pies And Prejudice, a humorous look at modern life in the North of England.

He has also penned the official autobiographies of the bands Blur and James.

He is based in the cities of Birmingham and Manchester and in the wilds of the Lake District, where he can often be spotted on top of a mountain with a Thermos flask and an individual pork pie.

Catch Stuart at Edge Hill Arts Centre on Thursday, June 9 at 7.30pm.

For more details, visit www. edgehill.ac.uk/arts centre or phone 01695 584 480.