Web hits 25 as lawnmower men prepare to do battle
GREAT WHITE
Monday will see the opening of a London exhibition showing photographs and artwork drawn by members of the ill-fated Terra Nova South Pole expedition in 1911-12. Photography was relatively new and required a lot of skill, so these pictures were expected to fetch a pretty sum when members of Captain Robert Scott’s team returned to civilisation. Indeed, Scott, who was heavily in debt, was banking on it. However, fate intervened and Scott and his chief artist/scientist Edward Wilson perished. Herbert Pointing, the photographer, returned alive, along with his pictures.
ACTING UP
Man perfume Dior Sauvage’s official envoy, Johnny Depp will be in the news this week, probably on Tuesday, when there will be a court hearing in Los Angeles to discuss a restraining order which was issued on May 28 in relation to his wife, Amber Heard. A two-day hearing is also listed for August 15 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
BIG WILL
Time was actor Will Smith could hold a movie theatre just by himself but the former Fresh Prince of Bel Air has been less conspicuous in recent years, having appeared in a series of critical flops. Wednesday will see the European premier of his comeback movie, Suicide Squad, which also stars Margot Robbie and Jared Leto.
MERCURY RISING
Thursday will see the launch of this year’s Mercury Prize, launched 24 years ago as an alternative to The Brits. Being shortlisted or winning can have a significant effect on sales, as Elbow discovered in 2008, when their listing resulted in a sales leap of 700 per cent. Meanwhile, on the same day, the Bank of England will attempt to counter this hubris by meeting to discuss the sombre subject of inflation.
OLYMPICS
On Friday, the long-awaited/already controversial 31st Olympiad will get underway and two new sports have been added, sevens rugby and golf. Also, windsurfing, which was due to be replaced with kite-boarding, has been re-instated thanks to leaders at the International Sailing Federation, which considers such matters.
COLD FEET
Friday will also see the first press screening of the new series of sit-com/ drama Cold Feet, which ran from 19982003. The first five series gained cult status but time will only tell if this reunion is a step too far...
NET GAIN
Can you believe it’s 25 years since some boffin ‘invented’ the world wide web? Likely, Tim Berners-Lee, the Cern scientist credited with that contentious achievement (although if he hadn’t done it, someone else would), likely did not realise what he had done at the time, as he basically made science fiction real. The precise date was August 6, 1991 when BernersLee created a newsgroup called alt. hypertext.
LAWNMOWER MEN
Forget the predictability of the Grand Prix with its carefully coiffured drivers, lawnmower racing is where it’s at and on Saturday, the 43rd British Lawn Mower Racing Association race will be held at Five Oaks, West Sussex.
FRINGE
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival will begin on Friday. It is the world’s largest arts festival, which in 2015, spanned 25 days and featured 50,459 performances of 3,314 shows in 313 venues. Highlights this year include Dr Seuss’s Cat in the Hat on stage, classical music for babies (Hup) and a stage version of Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale.
Every Monday we turn our gaze toward the near future. Neil Hudson squints his eyes to see whether he can glimpse what will make next week’s news