ED SHEERAN

Pop star announces long-awaited album

Ed Sheeran last week thrilled fans as he disclosed details of his new album – pronounced “equals” but named “=” – in which he w i l l explore themes of love, loss, resilience and fatherhood.

Taking to Instagram to unveil his latest record, the superstar revealed it will be released on 29 October. “I think it’s the best piece of work I’ve done, it’s cohesive and it feels great,” he said. It will be the Grammy winner’s fourth album from his symbol series. His previous records have been named +, x and ÷.

The singer has been at the top of the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks with single Bad Habits, which will feature on the upcoming album, his first since No.6 Collaborations Project in 2019, which featured artists such as Stormzy.

Jimmy Carr has led tributes to comedian Sean Lock, who died last week aged 58 following a battle with cancer.

Jimmy, who starred with Sean on 8 Out of 10 Cats, tweeted: “Brutal news about Sean Lock today. I loved him. I’m watching clips of him right now – laughing and crying. I’ll miss him so much.”

Fellow comic and close friend Bill Bailey, the current Strictly Come Dancing champion, said: “He was a true original, a wonderful comic…” and revealed Sean had been diagnosed with “advanced” lung cancer “a few years ago”.

Sean was best known for being a panellist on Channel 4 series 8 Out of 10 Cats. He also appeared on other panel shows including QI and Have I Got News For You.