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‘I’ve read all 66 Agatha Christie books – these classics are my 3 favourites’ | Books | Entertainment

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I woke to a detective story. Maybe I had left the radio on, in our pebbledashed family home in Cheam, the storm black and loud outside; I must have fallen asleep while Capital Radio jukeboxed tunes at my bedside. When I woke it was to a particular line, and I’ll never forget it. “She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake.” The voice was nasal, a little like Bob Dylan. There was a rasping guitar. I was 11. I didn’t even know what filing nails was.

There was no rewind on the radio, so the haunting words drifted away like smoke rings from a cigarette as I fell back to sleep. I would have to listen out to hear them again, find out whose voice that was and whose guitar. It turned out to be my introduction to Elvis Costello. The song, Watching the Detectives, was not only his first real hit – I like to think it was my first murder mystery. I’m still not sure what’s happening in it, except that somehow a murder on the TV is communicating danger to the woman watching the screen with her lover: “She looks so good that he gets down and begs.”

If Elvis was my King, Agatha became Queen. Soon after I heard the detective song, my mum said ‘You might enjoy this’ and handed me my first whodunnit. The book was Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, published in 1938.

Mum was giving it to me nearly 40 years after publication, and here we are, nearly 50 years on from that mother-son exchange, and I still remember its shocking setup. An old man with lots of money, Simeon Lee, calls his family together to announce he is revising his will. He seems to be deliberately annoying them, and he goes too far. Before he gets to change the will, they hear a crashing sound. He has died in a locked room. The only clue is a piece of rubber on the floor. I’ll take you no further into the story, in case you are reading it now.

The thing that jumped out at me was not the murder but the dedication on the very first page. “My dear James,” wrote Agatha to her brother-in-law. “You complained that my murders were getting too refined. Anaemic, in fact. You yearned for a ‘good violent murder with lots of blood’. A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder! So this is your special story written for you. I hope it may please. Agatha.”

No sooner had I read the last page of my first Agatha Christie than the author herself was dead. I saw the headline on a cold January morning at a newsagent: MOUSETRAP THEATRE LIGHTS DIMMED TO HONOUR QUEEN OF CRIME.

It is a strange thing to say, but it felt like my first bereavement. I had lost no one until Agatha. She lived to 86, bless her; it still amazes me that my life has overlapped the lives of people born in the 1800s. Even now, I remember my teenage years through Agatha Christies: Sad Cypress on a beach in Cornwall. And Then There Were None (with the unprintable original title) interrupting French homework. Dead Man’s Folly on a weekend trip to my grandmother’s. My teenage years were a parade of Agathas. By then I was fully into Elvis too.

Count them — 66 Christies, 27 Costellos. That’s how many Elvis concerts I have been to in the last 40 years. The great writer doesn’t always make it easy for his fans, but I think I understand why. No artist wants to become his own tribute act. Like Bowie, he released an extraordinary sequence of almost-perfect albums. Bowie went from Hunky Dory to Let’s Dance without a single duff move. Elvis went from My Aim Is True to King of America. For them both, a dozen on the trot.

No distraction on Twitter, no trolls, no one telling Bowie: “You look like a prat in that outfit.” Would we ever see it today, an artist on that kind of run? By 18 I had read all the Agathas and, I reckoned, knew every word of every Elvis song: “The salty lips of the socialite sisters with their/Continental fingers which have/Never seen working blisters…”

Who else writes like that? Van Morrison? Leonard Cohen? Bear in mind, the charts were full of the Smurfs and Joe Dolce. Top of the Pops was Legs Eleven and the monster Savile. Rejecting the pap of Radio One felt essential. Joy Division meant the world to me. In my miserable, angst-ridden teens, I worshipped a singer – Ian Curtis – who took his life before I even discovered him.

If Agatha/Elvis were my Queen and King, I never got a chance to show my love until recently. A weird thing happened that I must share with you. I am patron of the Appledore Book Festival in Devon. I fell in love with the town, and the village, on my first visit in 2012. I had a memoir out about my 25 years in the BBC and visited Devon to talk about it. Appledore is gorgeous. For years afterwards, I took my family on holiday there. I remain committed to the book festival.

In 2020, Covid hit. The festival organisers, being of strong Devon stock, decided they weren’t going to let some measly global pandemic put them off their stride. The festival would go ahead, with safety measures. We would do it as a drive-in. “Are you okay to interview someone with a new crime book out?” they asked me. “Sure,” I said. “Who is it?”

Had they not told me it was Richard Osman I would have known the second I saw his giant frame silhouetted against the ribbon of orange sunset the coast provided for his arrival. He is unmistakably… Osman. I loved his book. We did the social distancing thing, arriving onstage six feet apart. By now the sun was down.

I had not been given the instruction that “people shouldn’t blow their horns, because the farmer in the next field is quite angry about all this”, so I asked everyone to blow their horn if they agreed with what was being said, or wanted to ask a question. The session became noisy. Our own racket was punctuated by loud activity in the next field. The farmer had been so angered by the horns he had got in his tractor and started driving it in circles. We apologised.

Richard captivated the audience. At that point, his Thursday Murder Club was just another new book. It was out that month. No one saw the absolute sensation it would become. Credit to Richard for his vision – his success reopened the market in what came to be called ‘cosy crime’. The TV had been full of Father Brown and Midsomer Murders, but Agatha Christie’s style seemed dated in the book world.

No longer. I like to think that strange drive-in conversation with Richard was the last moment before we fell back in love with the whodunnit. And now here we are. It took me a while to realise what had happened. Suddenly there was a real hunger for the kind of books I had loved as a teenager.

Agatha invented the phrase ‘crime scene’ and pioneered the living room denouement. She even – and this is incredible – wrote the first whodunnit where the narrator is the murderer. There is now so much ‘unreliable narrator’ fiction there’s probably a U.N. award at the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate!

So here I am. With Elvis Costello in my ears and Agatha in my heart, I have my own whodunnit for you. I may be turning 60 this year, but I’m hoping it’s worth the wait.



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Fortnite down – Server maintenance start time and matchmaking for update 35.10 | Gaming | Entertainment

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Fortnite developer Epic Games is about to add new content to the game, although it’s not all good news.

According to Epic Games, Fortnite update 35.10 is coming to PS5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and Android on May 16. It adds new Star Wars content as part of the Galactic Battle event.

Unfortunately, however, the good news ends there, because the new content won’t be available until server maintenance comes to an end.

Fortnite will be taken offline at 9am BST UK time, while matchmaking is disabled shortly beforehand.

READ MORE: Fortnite update 35.10 release date, maintenance time, Chewbacca, General Grievous, more

The news was announced by Epic Games on X (formerly Twitter), alongside a confirmation of the server downtime.

“Insert Wookiee growl,” reads a Fortnite post. “Downtime for v35.10 begins at 4 AM ET with matchmaking ending shortly beforehand.”

For UK fans, this means that Fortnite will be taken offline in full at 9am BST, while matchmaking will be disabled at 8.30am UK time.

Epic hasn’t revealed exactly when downtime will come to an end, but maintenance typically lasts for 2-3 hours.

This means Fortnite and all companion game modes should be back online from 11am BST UK time at the earliest.

Daily Express will update this article with all the latest developments, so keep checking back for confirmation about the Fortnite server maintenance.

The new update will add new Star Wars material to the game, including Wookies like Chewbaca and his Bowcaster.

“Chewbacca’s ETA is May 15, and he’s bringing his Wookiee Bowcaster to the loot pool to aid the rebels,” Epic continues. “You’ll also find the powerful CA-87 Jawa Scatter Blaster in Chests around the Island — new to Fortnite!”

Elsewhere, General Grievous should be available to unlock from the Battle Pass.

Needless to say, new skins will also join the item shop, including a new Mandalorian variant. 



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Elvis Presley’s facelifts, webbed toes and dyed hair details disclosed by family | Music | Entertainment

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It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have plastic surgery, but did you know that Elvis Presley, who would have been 90 this year, had work done?

Fans may consider The King to have been naturally handsome enough but that didn’t stop him. Those who knew him personally in his private life have opened up on the incredible truth.

Danny Smith, who grew up at Graceland and is the son of The King’s cousin Billy, previously said on his YouTube channel Memphis Mafia Kid: “Elvis had…I guess you could say facelift procedure done to his face and his eyes. I was talking to Mom and Dad about this the other night and verified it. And that actually he had [it] done in Memphis and they actually went with him. So he did have a few things done. I mean, in my opinion, I don’t see how something that is almost perfect needs to be messed with. He didn’t need anything in my opinion.”

Danny’s father Billy, the last surviving original Memphis Mafia member said previously of The King’s facelifts: “He thought it made him look better and that he needed it. Elvis always tried to improve his looks.” The star’s cousin shared how the music icon had caps on his teeth installed and moles removed. And it turns out he had had at least two facelifts; one in 1957 and the other in 1975.

On the first facelift in 1957, Billy said: “To me, it wasn’t a facelift. Elvis did not like the flare in his nose at that time, how wide it was. So he decided to have it trimmed down and that’s what they did…which made him look…god! I don’t know how you can look any better, but he did.”

As for Elvis dying his hair jet black, he added: “The reason being someone told him his eyes were so blue and all that, [so] if he had dark hair it would make his eyes stand out.” This was confirmed by The King’s ex-girlfriend Linda Thompson, who lived with him at Graceland from 1972-6.

Speaking previously with Reel Talker, Linda said: “[He would use] hair spray and hair dye. He was more a natural blonde, a dirty blonde. He died his hair black for drama.” As for the rumour about webbed toes, she admitted: “He had twin toes, which meant that his second toe from the big toe and the third toe were conjoined up to what would be the knuckle. And I used to tease him a lot about having webbed toes! So he had twin toes. That’s something most people don’t know.”



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Top 10 directors of all time and Steven Spielberg doesn’t make the cut | Films | Entertainment

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With so many incredible directors out there, it’s hard to pick a favourite. There are your living legends Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, directors with a specific style or genre like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson and then blockbuster directors like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino.

Female directors are accounting for some of the most successful and creative films in the industry. Greta Gerwig who turned from acting to directing, is making waves with her features including Barbie, Ladybird and Little Women. Sofia Coppola is also an iconic director who started out in acting, with works including Lost in Translation, Priscilla and The Virgin Suicides. Forbes has listed its greatest directors of all time – has your favourite made the list? Here are the top 10 directors of all time as selected by Forbes.

10. Chantal Akerman

Best known for her films Jeanne Dielman, News from Home (1976) and Je Tu Il Elle (1974), Belgian Feminist avant-garde filmmaker Chantal Akerman has been helmed as a “directors’ director” due to her influence on cinema. She is responsible not only for films but also art exhibitions, various documentaries and also short films. She topped the BFIs Sight and Sound list in 2022 for her film Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.

9. Federico Fellini

Federico Fellini was nominated for 17 Oscars and won a record four in the Best Foreign Language Film category. He is best known for works including La Dolce Vita (1960), 8½ (1963) and Roma (1972). Prior to his 50-year career Fellini dropped out of law school and began working in radio. He later became involved with the neorealist Italian film movement, but is best known for his art films that followed this era.

8. Satyajit Ray

Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray is widely known for The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958) and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy. Hiswork had also been inspired bythe Italian neorealist movement but he crafted a style of his own through his use of traditional Indian music, meticulous editing and using actors from a diverse range of backgrounds. Francis Ford Coppola and Christopher Nolan have cited Ray as an influence to their work.

7. Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick is a renowned filmmaker with a huge legacy including A Clockwork Orange (1971), Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He was notorious forbeing difficult to work with as a director. Kubrick won very few awards for his work but was nominated for 13 Oscars. However, despite this, he has inspired many directors to follow suit in his directing style, especially when it comes to camerawork and framing.

6. Wong Kar-wai

Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-wai is best known for films is best known for his films Chungking Express (1994), Happy Together (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000), but he got his start in TV. He has influenced many other directors including Quentin Tarantino, and this was due to his tendancy to create often feature broken narrative structures, use of bold saturation, pop music and step-printing, a process which alters film rates.

5. Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock has been labelled as the “Master of Suspense” and directed mroe than 50 films in his decades-long career. His legacy is however largely tainted due to his treatment of female leads. He is best known for Rebecca (1940), which earned him his first of five Academy Award nominations for Best Director, alongside Suspicion (1941) and Dial M for Murder (1954).

4. Jean-Luc Godard

The Swiss-born director Jean-Luc Godard was a pillar of French New Wave cinema. His filmography includes Breathless (1960), Contempt (1963) and Masculin Féminin (1966). He was famous for giving his actors free reign to explore their performances and was known to begin filming with unfinished scripts. Godard liked to play with narrative, continuity, sound and camerawork in many of his works especially jump cuts.

3. Frank Capra

Frank Capra’s films largely captured the idealism of what America could be in the 1930s and 1940s. He began working in silent comedies but his best known works include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). He emigrating to America from Sicily at five years old and went on to win five Oscars and earn lifetime achievement awards from the American Film Institute and the Directors Guild of America in his career.

2. Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder started his career writing scripts in Germany. Austrian born, many of Wilder’s family members were killed by the Nazis. After he left Germany in the 1930s, Wilder has cemeted himself as one of Hollywood‘s greats by the 1940s. Someof his most well-known works include Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He was nominated for 21 Oscars, and won six, including two for Best Director.

1. Akira Kurosawa

Most famous for Seven Samurai, across a 60-year career Kurosawa worked across genres on books, TV and theatre as well. As well as classic samurai fare, he gainged recognition for noirish dramas like Drunken Angel (1948), period pieces like Rashomon (1950) and riveting crime flicks like High and Low (1963). He helped to popularise Japanese films in the West and many other notable directors described him favourably. Kurosawa started working for Photo Chemical Laboratories (which later became Japan’s Toho Studios) in 1936 at the age of 25.



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