The BBC has responded after it was reported that two Strictly Come Dancing stars have been accused of taking cocaine. The broadcaster is said to have hired an external law firm to probe the drug-taking allegations, which a source said were “well-known” on the show, The Sun on Sunday reports. The claims were reportedly made…

For years now, many performers at Edinburgh Fringe have spoken about their struggles to afford the sky-high prices for their accommodation each August. This year, with Oasis’s reunion tour coming to the city for three nights, the cost of securing a room for a month at the biggest arts festival in the world is even…

Bob Geldof has accused the Israeli authorities of “lying” about starvation in Gaza – after Israel’s government spokesperson claimed there was “no famine caused by Israel”. Earlier this week, David Mencer claimed that Hamas “starves its own people” while on The News Hour with Mark Austin, denying that Israel was responsible for mass hunger in…

Ozzy Osbourne has taken his final tour of Birmingham – with his family experiencing the love of thousands of fans who turned out to see the heavy metal star come home. “We love you, Ozzy!” came the shouts from the crowd as his cortege stopped at Black Sabbath Bridge in the city, a site that…

It was a cold, typically rainy Manchester evening, October 1993, when Michael Spencer Jones set out to meet a new guitar band he had been commissioned to photograph. The weather was miserable, he didn’t know their music, wasn’t totally in the mood. “I had to drag myself from home, thinking: is it going to be…

Kelly Osbourne has commented on the death of her father Ozzy Osbourne for the first time since he died on Tuesday. The figurehead of heavy metal died aged 76, just a few weeks after performing a huge farewell show with his Black Sabbath bandmates in Birmingham, where the band was formed in 1968. After the…

Ozzy Osbourne fans will be able to say goodbye to the heavy metal pioneer at a procession for his cortege through his home city of Birmingham tomorrow. The star’s hearse will make its way down Broad Street towards the Black Sabbath bridge and bench – where thousands of fans have left flowers, messages and other…

Riverdance star Michael Flatley is hoping to become Ireland’s next president, a court has heard. The revelation came out in a legal case over work done on his mansion in County Cork, the Castlehyde. Barrister Ronnie Hudson said there had been a “material change in circumstances” for Flatley and he’s set to move back to…

Top Boy actor Micheal Ward has been charged with two counts of rape and is due to appear in court next month. Ward, 27, has also been charged with two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault. The offences relate to one woman and are reported to have taken place in…

Grammy-winning jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine has died aged 97. Dame Cleo was a leading figure of the British jazz scene for many years and worked with the likes of Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra. Her famed scat singing style, her remarkable range from tenor to contralto and her smoky voice made her Britain’s most…