LONDON (Reuters) – At least Britain’s Prince William and his wife Catherine have fewer things to worry about now they have announced they are expecting their first child.

A day after breaking the news, the couple popularly known as “Wills and Kate” received advice from the world’s media and public on what to call the offspring, what he/she/they will look like, what to wear during pregnancy and even what the child was thinking inside the womb.

LONDON (Reuters) – One of contemporary art’s most prestigious awards is announced later on Monday, and members of the Turner Prize jury must decide between the first performance artist to be nominated, two filmmakers and the creator of obsessively detailed drawings.

The British award, which helped establish the careers of top artists like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, has pushed contemporary art into the public domain, although opinion over the quality of works on display has always been sharply divided.

LONDON (Reuters) – Plans by a cash-strapped London borough to sell a Henry Moore sculpture worth up to 20 million pounds ($32 million) to help pay the bills has hit a snag after the Art Fund charity launched a legal challenge over who owns “Draped Seated Woman”.

Tower Hamlets in the east of the capital, which has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, is struggling to make austerity savings of 100 million pounds over the next two years, and proposed the sale of the Moore as a partial solution.

LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Anyone dusting off their copy of
George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah” in the run-up to Christmas
this year might spare a thought for the unsung hero of the
piece.

Without Charles Jennens, experts argue that the 18th century
oratorio would never have been created, robbing Western choral
music of one of its greatest works.

LONDON (Reuters) – Russia’s Ivanovo region on Wednesday paid 1.5 million pounds ($2.4 million), or 15 times the estimate, for an archive of thousands of letters, photographs and recordings once belonging to leading film director Andrei Tarkovsky.

Tarkovsky, who was born in the region in 1932, is considered one of Russia’s greatest film makers, directing acclaimed movies including “Andrei Rublyev”, “Solaris” and “The Mirror”.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s foremost living sculptor Antony Gormley wants us to get inside his head with his latest work “Model”, a 100-tonne steel maze of cubes and squares, dark corners and splashes of light on show at the White Cube gallery in London.

The giant grey-black work, based on a human form lying down, is entered via the right “foot”, and combines the fun of an adventure playground with the unnerving quality of a labyrinth often plunged into darkness.

LONDON (Reuters) – Still famous as the in-again/out-again member of chart-topping boyband Take That, British singer Robbie Williams says it is time to get serious as a solo artist and prove his place at the top of the pop pile.

Williams told reporters on Monday he planned a 15-date European stadium tour kicking off in Manchester on June 19, 2013 and concluding in Tallinn, Estonia on August 20.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones pranced, swaggered and laughed through the first of five concerts, celebrating their golden jubilee with a performance that critics said put paid to questions over ticket costs.

Virtually every reviewer at the first of two shows in London’s O2 Arena on Sunday night mentioned the controversy over high prices, but almost all of them said it was worth it.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones turned back the clock in style on Sunday with their first concert in five years, strutting and swaggering their way through hit after familiar hit to celebrate 50 years in business.

Before a packed crowd of 20,000 at London’s O2 Arena, they banished doubts that age may have slowed down one of the world’s greatest rock and roll bands, as lead singer Mick Jagger launched into “I Wanna Be Your Man”.