Stars join Children in Need fun
Top names from the worlds of TV, music and theatre are taking part in this year's Children In Need show.

Lady Gaga joins royal gala show
Eccentric chart-topper Lady Gaga is to sing for the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance at Blackpool's Opera House.

Oprah announces end of talk show
A tearful Oprah Winfrey announces her talk show will end in September 2011 after 25 years on the air.

EastEnders festive scripts stolen
Scripts for the Christmas episodes of EastEnders are stolen in a burglary at a writer's home, the BBC confirms.

One dead in Cyrus tour bus crash
An accident involving Miley Cyrus' tour bus kills one passenger and injures several other people, US police say.

Healthy Forsyth back on Strictly
Bruce Forsyth is well enough to host this Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing after missing last week's show because of flu.

Monkey joins Hawley on stage
Richard Hawley teams up with Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner at a London gig that saw him hint at a future collaboration.

Peter Kay confirms tour dates
Peter Kay announces his first solo dates for nearly seven years, with four nights in Manchester next April.

Blur scoop top UK festival prize
Rock group Blur's Glastonbury set is named the best headline performance at this year's UK Festival awards.

YouTube gets automatic subtitles
Automatic captions for YouTube videos are to roll out across its channels, says parent company Google.

Herzog to chair Berlin film jury
German director Werner Herzog will head the jury at next year's Berlin Film Festival, organisers announce.

Artist Jeanne-Claude dies aged 74
US artist Jeanne-Claude, whose dramatic installations included The Gates in New York's Central Park, has died aged 74.

Painting in final Archers outing
Actor Norman Painting, the voice of Phil Archer, will make his final appearance on the long-running radio drama on Sunday.

Artist to induce seizure on stage
A charity raises concerns over plans by a dance artist with epilepsy to induce a seizure on stage as part of a performance.

Nick Cave and the Bad Sex in Fiction award?
Singer Nick Cave joins acclaimed authors Philip Roth and Paul Theroux on the shortlist for this year's Bad Sex in Fiction award.

N-Dubz pair give rape statements
Two rappers from pop trio N-Dubz make statements to police as witnesses in a case of an alleged rape.

Peas manager says sorry to Hilton
The manager of US group the Black Eyed Peas apologises to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton over a nightclub assault.

Forgery threat to music festivals
The UK's summer music festivals face a threat from counterfeit wristbands, an industry adviser warns.

Liam Gallagher 'demoing' songs
Singer Liam Gallagher says he will begin recording a solo album with the remaining members of Oasis early next year.

Twilight sequel tipped for record
Teenage vampire movie The Twilight Saga: New Moon is expected to score one of the biggest opening weekends ever for a non-summer film, experts predict.

Hudson to play Winnie Mandela
Hollywood actress Jennifer Hudson will play the controversial ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie, in a forthcoming film.

Ferrell 'most overpaid film star'
Hollywood comedy actor Will Ferrell tops a list of film stars whose returns offer the least value for money.

Valentino on Oscar doc longlist
A film about fashion designer Valentino is one of 15 titles eligible for the best documentary Oscar next year.

M&S Christmas TV ad 'offensive'
Some viewers accuse the High Street retailer of sexism in its latest ad featuring Ashes to Ashes actor Philip Glenister.

Nicole Richie treated in hospital
Actress Nicole Richie is responding well to treatment for pneumonia in a US hospital, her publicist says.

'Exhausted' Dallerup quits jungle
Dancer Camilla Dallerup quits ITV1's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! after telling viewers: "My body can't take it."

Lloyd Webber is back in hospital
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is re-admitted to hospital after developing an infection following surgery for prostate cancer.

Television queen
Is Oprah's announcement that her talk show will stop in 2011 the end of an era or the start of a new one?

Queen mother
Freddie Mercury's mother shares her memories of him

Enigma aberration
Elgar's terrible trombone playing

Soul Power
James Brown's sax man Maceo Parker recalls his career

Magic moments
Some of Oprah's most memorable shows

In pictures
Helena Christensen documents climate change

Anti climax
Nominees for the Bad Sex in Fiction award

Movie Review | 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon': Abstinence Makes the Heart ... Oh, You Know
The big tease turns into the long goodbye in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

To Blacks, Precious Is ‘Demeaned’ or ‘Angelic’
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” has sparked heated debate about its meaning since its limited release.

Winfrey Bets on Her Future With Cable
Oprah Winfrey will end her daytime talk show in 2011 as she prepares to start a cable channel of her own.

Art Review | 'The Origins of El Greco': Saints at a Cultural Crossroads
A lustrous exhibition at the Onassis Cultural Center of Venetian Crete, where East met West, and artists painted the divine.

Music Review | Philip Glass: Glass Looks to the Heavens, Again
Philip Glass’s weighty and tangled opera, “Kepler,” which arrived at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday, examines the relationship between science and religion.

Theater Review | 'The Orphans' Home Cycle': Heart of a Small Town, Vast in Its Loneliness
The first part of Horton Foote’s “Orphans’ Home Cycle” is a thrilling demonstration of an artist soaring into the realm of the epic.

Exhibition Review | 'Leonardo da Vinci's Workshop': Flights of Mind, Brought to Life
The Discovery Times Square Exposition’s show actually brings you closer to understanding the real workshop of Leonardo: his mind.

Nickelodeon’s Stepchild, Eager for More Love
As the musical children’s show “Yo Gabba Gabba!” continues to take significant steps into mainstream popular culture, its producers crave more support from its network.

Film: Opening Wide His (Repaired) Heart
After heart surgery, the comedian Robin Williams has become more introspective and more grateful for what he has.

Art Review | 'Tim Burton': A World of Macabre Misfits
Given the appeal of Tim Burton’s movies, you would hope that the Museum of Modern Art’s expansive retrospective of his noncinematic art would be equally exciting. Alas, it is a letdown.

Jeanne-Claude, Christo’s Collaborator on Environmental Canvas, Is Dead at 74
Jeanne-Claude worked with her husband, Christo, on dozens of environmental arts projects, including “The Gates” in Central Park in 2005.

Oscar Short List of Documentaries Draws Controversy
A screening committee from the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences overlooked at least a half-dozen prominent films.

Books of The Times: ‘You Know That Chicken Is Chicken, Right?’
Jonathan Safran Foer uses his literary gifts to give the reader some very visceral, very gruesome descriptions of factory farming and the slaughterhouse.

Movie Review | 'Broken Embraces': Almodóvar’s Happy Agony, Swirling Amid Jealousy and Revenge
Can there be such a thing as exuberant melancholy? I can’t think of another way to describe the spirit of “Broken Embraces.”

Theater Review | 'In the Next Room, or the vibrator play': Beyond Electricity, Toward Female Emancipation
Alert the authorities. Shocking sexual acts are taking place in this inspired new comedy by Sarah Ruhl.

Theater Review | 'Twelfth Night (or What You Will)': Gender Switch in Illyria, With Players 8 Inches Tall
What the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater does is improbably fabulous, and they’re doing it again in their sublime new production.

Movie Review | 'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans': A New Orleans Mystery: A Cop So Bad, He’s Good
Pain, addiction and craziness fuel “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.”

Art Review | 'Alias Man Ray': Mercurial Jester, Revealing and Concealing
A traditional retrospective on Man Ray, with an irresistible biographical hook, at the Jewish Museum.

Movie Review | 'The Blind Side': Steamrolling Over Life’s Obstacles With Family as Cheerleaders
“The Blind Side” is a movie made up almost entirely of turning points and yet curiously devoid of drama or suspense.

Music Review | American Classical Orchestra: An Intimate Concert, With Original Instruments
The ensemble’s program of works by Haydn and Mozart on Wednesday at the New York Society for Ethical Culture was informed, earnest and lively.

Movie Review | 'Planet 51': A Misunderstood Alien, but Not as Smart as E.T.
The agreeable but flagrantly unoriginal “Planet 51” belongs to the mix-and-match school of animated moviemaking.

Movie Review | 'Mammoth': Bourgeois Bohemians, There’s a Price to Pay
In “Mammoth,” when a rich child eats her lunch in New York, a poor boy in the Philippines cries.

Music Review | Aprile Millo: Strauss, Neapolitan Tunes and a Festive Singalong
The soprano Aprile Millo made her New York recital debut with an eclectic program of works by Donaudy, Wolf-Ferrari and Rachmaninoff at the Rose Theater on Tuesday.

Dance Review | Wally Cardona: A People-Oriented Piece, Featuring Kierkegaard
In “Really Real” Mr. Cardona features six core dancers to convey the idea of an individual trapped in a collective.

Inside Art: Bronzino Is Given His Museum Moment
In January, a 16th-century draftsman finally gets his due at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Antiques: Comeback for Furniture at Carnegie Museum
The furniture galleries at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh reopen on Saturday and now explore design trends that spread globally during the last five centuries.

Art in Review
Carl Fredrik Hill at Scandinavia House, Dexter Sinister with Performa, Frederick Hayes at Number 35 and more.

Review: The Beginnings of Divination
An exhibit at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington on the Fal-Nameh, or Book of Omens, may lead to discoveries that will throw some light on its emergence in 16th-century Iran and Turkey.

Review: What Is Real, What Isn't?
"Art and Illusions" at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence shows off 150 works of trompe l'oeil from antiquity today.

On the London Stage: A Poet, a Composer and a Love of Theater
“The Habit of Art,” the Alan Bennett play, has at its complexly poignant core W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten.

On the London Stage: On the London Stage, a 'Little Voice' Grown Powerful
Jim Cartwright's "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice'' tells of a teen familial face-off; and "Pains of Youth" presents a creepy image of pre-wartime doctors.

Review: Moscow's Second Stage Revels in the Homegrown
The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theater in Moscow is showing a dynamic new "Hamlet" and an insightful staging of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor."

Design: Mistakes in Typography Grate the Purists
Typographic gaffes often crop up in various public places as well as in television programs and movies, offending designers who work with typefaces on a daily basis, and study them lovingly.

In the Studio With Courtney Love: Exclusive shots of the Hole leader at work on "Nobody's Daughter" in New York
Exclusive shots of the Hole leader at work on "Nobody's Daughter" in New York

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees 1986 - 2009: See everyone honored from Buddy Holly and Miles Davis to Madonna and Metallica
See everyone honored from Buddy Holly and Miles Davis to Madonna and Metallica

Sesame Street at 40: The Show's Classic Music Moments: Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, 'N Sync and more on the iconic children's show
Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, 'N Sync and more on the iconic children's show

MTV's Europe Music Awards 2009: U2 Team With Jay-Z, Green Day Ignite the Stage: Plus Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Shakira and more
Plus Foo Fighters, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Shakira and more

Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, and Bono on the Cover of Rolling Stone: See the rock gods' 49 iconic images through the years
See the rock gods' 49 iconic images through the years

Rivers Cuomo's Surf Wax Adventure: Rolling Stone takes the Weezer frontman to the beach to watch him boogie
Rolling Stone takes the Weezer frontman to the beach to watch him boogie