Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

Document with clues to Beatles song Eleanor Rigby could raise £500,000

A possible clue to the identity of the real life woman behind the Beatles' hit Eleanor Rigby is expected to fetch £500,000 at auction later this month. The document is a 97-year-old salary register from Liverpool City Hospital and features the name E. Rigby, a scullery maid who has signed for her monthly wage. Her annual earnings were £14. Paul McCartney has previously claimed the heroine of the poignant song was fictional. The grave of an Eleanor Rigby, wh

Document with clues to Beatles song Eleanor Rigby could raise 500,000 pounds

The document is a 97-year-old salary register from Liverpool City Hospital and features the name E. Rigby, a scullery maid who has signed for her monthly wage. Her annual earnings were £14. Paul McCartney has previously claimed the heroine of the poignant song was fictional. The grave of an Eleanor Rigby, who in the song died with no one to mourn her, was also discovered in the churchyard of St. Peter's in Woolton, Liverpool, close to where McCartney met John Lennon in

'Newly found' Caravaggios on show

The pictures were among several cleaned in a conservation studio for the exhibition at the Queen's Gallery at Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroodhouse. During that process, specialists found that two paintings thought to be copies of lost originals had actually been painted by the 17th Century artist. The works are The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew and Boy Peeling Fruit. The pieces are dated to 1592-93 and 1600-01 respectively. In recent ye

Topless portrait of 18th Tahitian princess to be seen for first time in 200 years

A topless portrait of a Tahitian princess painted on one of Captain Cook's Pacific journeys, that launched the West's love affair with the south Pacific, is to go on public display after 200 years in private hands. The portrait of Princess Poetua, now worth up to £1.2 million, was painted as she was taken captive by Cook in 1777 as a bargaining tool for his own men, who had gone ashore to enjoy the company of the female Society Islanders. The botanist Sir Joseph Banks,

Doors open on a hidden corner of Forbidden City

When restorers opened the door on the Qianlong Emperor's favourite studio in the Forbidden City, dust three inches thick on the exquisitely carved surfaces bore testament to decades of abandonment. "It felt like the last emperor had just turned the key in the door and left," was the verdict of one expert. Yesterday, after a multimillion-dollar effort, Juanqinzhai, the "Studio of Exhaustion from Diligent Service", was revealed in all its dazzling glory. It is the

Monticello opens new visitor center

A new $43 million visitor's center at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is opening this weekend. The new Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center and Smith Education Center was the largest capital project in the history of the private non-profit Thomas Jefferson Foundation. The 42,000-square-foot center is made up of five pavilions that encircle a courtyard. It includes a museum shop, café and a few classrooms.

The White House: Behind Closed Doors (Documentary/History Channel)

The White House is at all times many different things. It's a museum where tourists come to learn about our country's history, a place of business where some of the greatest decisions of democracy have been made and, to the families of 41 Presidents, it has also been a home. The White House is perhaps the most photographed location in all of the United States of America but those images are mostly from the outside looking in. Now, on November 26 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, in the History(TM

Valkyrie: from solemn drumbeats to big bangs

When a trailer begins with a solemn drumbeat, it can only mean one thing. Well, two things. A) We're in the run-up to Oscar season and B) laughs will be few and far between. Trailers for Harold and Kumar movies never EVER begin with a solemn drumbeat, and also never win Oscars. Coincidence? I think not. In fact, just to labour both points, the first 30 seconds are made up of some of the most dramatic and sweeping statements you'll see in a cinema this year, spoken in sombre, weighty

The forgotten war poet on BBC Radio 4

Today is the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, and radio has done the occasion proud. Highlights? Well, Nobody Told Me to Oil My Boots (Radio 4, Sunday) was special. Here, Antony Sher told the story of Isaac Rosenberg. A talented artist, he wanted to be recognised as a poet. Instead he wrote some of the most miserable letters home any mother could have been devastated to receive, starting with his experiences at the hands of the anti-Semites and bullies in one of

Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, Churchill and the secret history of the Second World War

When do you think the Second World War ended? In August 1945 after the surrender of the Japanese? Well, it depends how you look at it. If you believe that the end of the war was supposed to have brought “freedom” to the countries which had suffered under Nazi occupation, then for millions of people the war did not really end until the fall of Communism less than 20 years ago; because in the summer of 1945 the people of Poland, of the Baltic States and of a number of other countries in Eastern Eu

Babylon: Myth and Reality at the British Museum

We've all heard stories of Babylon. But then that's hardly surprising - no other city has been so vilified. Which is no bad thing as far as this once proud capital of a flourishing empire is concerned. Because a villain, as any lover of literature well knows, is more vividly beguiling than his virtuous foil. Take Milton's Satan as the most famous example. He is far more compelling than his pious God. Which is why, though hundreds of years have passed since this sprawling Mesopotamian metropolis

School students put history on T-shirts

Kids got creative at the University School in Davie when they turned ordinary T-shirts into wearable works of art history. With markers and Popsicle sticks, Michael Wilner transformed himself into a fashion historian. The eighth-grader recently used events from the Boston Tea Party as décor for a T-shirt. ''I used the sticks to make the boat and drew the people aboard it,'' the young artist said. Wilner and his classmates at the University Scho

City of Lowell uses artists from past to recast its image

LOWELL, Mass. — This old city on the banks of the Merrimack River is best known for its long-closed textile mills. But it also wants to be known for its famous offspring. Lowell is the birthplace of Bette Davis, as well as Jack Kerouac and the painter James Abbott McNeil Whistler. The entertainer Ed McMahon and the actor Michael Chiklis, who stars in the television series “The Shield,” were also born here. And the city, which has blossomed into a haven for artists, is highlighting i

A new photographic exhibit marking the 200th anniversary of the 16th president's birth masks as much as it reveals

It's a safe bet that Abraham Lincoln is the most recognizable American of all time. Every child in this country can name him by first grade, and so can countless millions who will never set foot in the United States. His face adorns the indivisible penny (which is the best argument for retaining that beleaguered coin). He's more American than George Washington, at least when it comes to his image. A big part of the reason is photography. Lincoln was the first president whose entire

Spanish poet's grave to be opened in private at request of family

The common grave where Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, murdered at the outbreak of Spain's 1936-39 civil war, is thought to be buried will be opened in private at the request of his family, a court has ruled. National Audience judge Santiago Pedraz ordered that "measures be taken that guarantee the privacy and the dignity of the victims and their family members" during the opening of the grave in southern Spain where three others are also believed to be buried.

HBO is preparing a new documentary on the President-Elect

HBO is known for pushing the envelope of television, and they are acting fast on the historic occasion of Barack Obama winning the presidency. The new documentary is co-produced by Edward Norton, and documents Obama's campaign, path to the presidency, and election victory. Since 2006, Amy Rice and Alicia Sams have had the camera eye on Obama, following him from Africa to Election Night. During that time, the duo has had deep access to Obama and his family, friends, and campaign tea

Mustafa the movie divides Turkey with a portrait of the 'real' Ataturk

Turks venerate Ataturk, the founder of the republic and architect of arguably the most successful social modernisation programme of the 20th century. How much they really want to know him is questionable, however, judging from the furore that has erupted since a new documentary on his life was released in cinemas last week. Directed by Can Dundar, a leading documentary-maker with an until now spotless secularist record, Mustafa is the first Turkish film to emphasise the private side

Ben Hur Live to premiere in London

Visitors to the building formerly known as the Millennium Dome know a preposterously expensive, unnecessary folly when they see one. But who is to say that in these straitened times what the world really needs is not a £5 million stage version of Ben Hur, complete with live chariot race, massed gladiatorial combat, sea battle, heaving bazaar, crucifixion and, for good measure, an orgy. Fifteen years in the making, Ben Hur Live will receive its world premiere next September at the O

Virtual Rome: Gladiator fights return to the Colosseum

Vestal Virgins, bloodthirsty gladiators grappling with tigers and a portly toga-wearing guide are the highlights of a new high-tech attraction which aims to bring Ancient Rome to life. "3D Rewind Rome" opens this month in the Italian capital within sight of the Colosseum, the scene of fights to the death between gladiators, slaves and wild animals. It blends video-game technology with Hollywood animation to recreate life in the temples, tribunals and market

In German Hearts, a Pirate Spreads the Plunder Again

STRALSUND, Germany — Filthy, bearded actors with broadswords and cellphones milled outside the 14th-century brick Gothic gabled house at dusk here last week, smoking cigarettes and sipping coffee from plastic cups to stay warm as the sun set. Inside the house, a landmark, a film crew was preparing to start rolling again on “13 Paces Without a Head,” the story of a peculiarly German hero, the egalitarian pirate Klaus Störtebeker. The feature-film production is just the latest sign of