Russia unveils tourists' spaceship 'Iconic' Russian company skyscraper has unveiled the pro­ totype of the world's for London first reusable spaceship, aimed at space tourists. 66-storey skyscraper It expects the real thing to which would dwarf the be ready for its first commer­ surrounding London cial flight by the end of 2004. skyline has been approved by The ship, C-XXI, can take three passengers at an expected cost planners at Southwark Council. of around $100,000 for each ticket, and the company says it On the banks of the Thames, the London Bridge Tower will already has financial backing from investors In the United States soar 1,000 feet (305 metres) above London and become Eu­ and Asia. The prototype looks like a small aeroplane, and Is rope's tallest building. It will house offices, hotels, homes, shops fully automatic.The makers of this new spaceship believe there and restuarants adjacent to London Bridge station and has been Is a huge untapped market of would-be space tourists - ordi­ backed by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London. nary people willing to pay for the holiday of a lifetime. It also The proposed tower, which has been designed by architect Renzo has 250 potential space tourists already signed up to boldly go Piano, will appear as a slender spire of glass with steeply slop­ to tourism's final frontier ing faces made of large shards of "extra white giass". This com­ bination will make the tower seem partly to disappear into the sky and it is likely to change its character and appearance with Oscar presenters seasonal variations of light and weather, get £14,000 gifts resenters and performers at the Oscars ceremony on 24 March are Sutton Hoo set to be winners too - of a £14,000 goody bag of presents and vouchers. While treasures on show Academy Award winners walk away with a statuette on 24 March, stars including Kevin Spacey, Mel Gibson, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hanks and Sting will take home the most valuable bag of gifts in Oscars history. The n exhibition bag will contain a £1,000 watch, centre depict­ and a £280 handbag from Amer­ ing the histo­ ican designer CJ & Me. The ry of one of Britain's goody bags are put together by most important archaeological sites has been unveiled. the Academy Awards organisers The National Trust's £5m project at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk dis- from thousands of products and plays priceless Anglo-Saxon treasures which were burled under services sent to them by manu­ field for 1,300 years. Experts say Sutton Hoo - the burial ground facturers. of the Anglo-Saxon pagan kings of East Anglia - ranks in historical importance with Stonehenge. The exhibition centre at Sutton Hoo, Oscars 2002: The nominees near Woodbridge, was opened on Wednesday by the poet Sea- mus Heaney. Treasures uncovered during digs include a warrior's Best picture Sean Penn: I Am Sam helmet and shield, along with gold ornaments, and Byzantine A Beautiful Mind Will Smith: Ali silver. Many of the artefacts were discovered in the remains of a Gosford Park Denzel Washington: Training 90ft burial ship which is reconstructed at the exhibition with rep­ In the Bedroom Day lica finds. The treasures have been housed in the British Museum The Lord of the Rings: The Tom Wilkinson: In the in London since their discovery. Fellowship of the Ring Bedroom Moulin Rouge Original Song Actress in a leading role Alicia makes Until: Kate & Leopold, by Halle Berry: Monster's Ball Sting Judi Dench: Iris Commons 'hip' May It Be: The Fellowship of Nicole Kidman: Moulin S singer Alicia Keys turned the the Ring, by Enya, Nicky Ryan Rouge House of Commons into a hip and Roma Ryan Sissy Spacek: In the Bed­ music venue when she played room If I Didn't Have You: Mon­ a concert there on Friday. The show was Renée Zellweger: Bridget sters Inc, by Randy Newman set up by David Lammy MP, the young­ Jones's Diary There You'll Be: Pearl est member of parliament, who said he Actor in a leading Harbor, by Diane Warren wanted to bring the inner city into the corridors of power. Keys per­ role Vanilla Sky: Vanilla Sky, by formed her chart-topping soul music to 150 school students and Russell Crowe: A Paul McCartney Beautiful Mind www.bbc.co.uk journalists - and even agreed to sing a duet with a 16-year-old girl. HE BRITISH have a reputation for creativity and for the long been supported by governmental ability to reinvent themselves. There is much evidence funding. They remain, however, a small part of this in the arts. 'The arts' covers an enormous range of the picture. Every year, hundreds of of subjects and activities, including all aspects of design thousands of tourists from overseas and and architecture and most of what we think of as Brit­ from within Britain visit the major national galleries across the coun­ ish heritage1. The visual and performing arts is part of try which have some of the finest collections of art in the world. what we think of as the arts and includes crafts2, dance, The National Gallery in London houses11 the main national collec­ drama, music, opera, film and literature. tion of Western European painting in Britain. The gallery has around The quality and breadth of the arts are enriched3 by the contri­ 2,300 pictures, Including many famous masterpieces, and covers bution of individuals from many backgrounds and traditions. The every European school of painting from about 1260 to 1900. The ethnic diversity of the British people helps to create a range of Tate Gallery houses the national collection of British art and inter­ culturally varied art, which reflects different traditions, offers new national modern and contemporary art from 1900 onwards12. There perspectives and allows the growth of hybrid art forms. are four branches of the gallery: two located in London, one in In Britain, as in many parts of Liverpool and one in Cornwall. the world, growing commercial In Scotland, major collections of globalisation is being balanced by art can be found in the National a growing sense of national and Gallery of Scotland and the Scot­ regional identity. Increasingly tish National Gallery of Modern artists are becoming ambassa­ Art. As in the rest of Britain, im­ dors for their homelands in Scot­ proving access and participation land, Wales, Northern Ireland in the arts is high on the agen­ and in the different regions of da13. In the city of Glasgow, en­ England. Artists are returning to trance to all museums and and developing ancient regional galleries is free in order to en­ art forms including Gaelic and courage people from all sections Welsh poetry and music, Celtic of society to make use of the jewellery and Cornish ceramics. city's cultural resources. At the same time, many artists Since 1994, with the advent14 of produce work, which is not re­ the National Lottery, additional lated to territorial, linguistic or funds have helped to transform cultural boundaries. the visual arts with new spaces, The arts influence and affect4 better public access and facilities. everyone in Britain. In England Art is part of the National School alone, almost 80 % of the pub­ Curriculum for children from five to lic attend an arts event each fourteen. After this, art is an op­ year. Statistically, the most pop­ tional subject15. Those who decide ular arts event is drama followed to take up art or design as a pro­ closely by attendance at art gal­ fession apply to one of about 50 leries and exhibitions and classi­ special art and design colleges, cal opera. More than 550 arts festivals are held each year, including which offer a range of courses. world famous events such as the Edinburgh Festival and Notting The word 'crafts' describes a wide variety of decorative and Hill Carnival and more specialised jazz, film and opera festivals. applied arts. These include all craft forms, from studio work to public commissions, from modem experimental work to tradi­ tional and historic designs. They also include work in all me­ dia: wood, stone, textiles, glass, paper, metal and sand. N BRITAIN, novelty and the visual arts go hand in hand. Landscaping17, architecture, displays and exhibitions are also 5 Whereas abstract and expressionist art shocked tradi­ included. tionalists almost a hundred years ago, the public today The Crafts Council houses the largest gallery in Britain devoted expects to be challenged and enjoys new modes of to the crafts and also provides a range of services to artists expression. In an age of experimentation, artists com­ and the public including a programme of major exhibitions in bine media6, including film, paint, photography, sound the gallery and a specialist reference library. and three-dimensional material to make a new kind of to be continued... show. The range of styles employed by artists competing for the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery in London demonstrates the im­ agination and ingenuity7 of visual artists working in Britain. The 1998 winner, Chris Ofili, presented a number of pieces using acrylic oil, resin, paper collage, glitter8, map pins9 and even elephant dung10 on canvas! Experimental forms of visual art in Britain are enjoyed and have ngland is the largest country of the UK, occupying England and Wales were integrated administratively and legally well over half of its geographical area. While its over the period for 1536 to 1542. This was followed by the Identity is bound up with Scotland, Wales and union of England and Scotland in 1707. Northern Ireland in many ways, it is at the same Like many other parts of Europe, England was populated by a time a separate country with its own 'distinct fea­ succession of peoples from the beginnings of the Old Stone Age.