A new production of award-winning smash hit play, The Full Monty, starring TV favourites, Danny Hatchard (EastEnders), Jake Quickenden (X Factor, I’m A Celebrity…), and Bill Ward (Emmerdale, Coronation Street) is heading to Mayflower Theatre from Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 November. We caught up with the cast to...
Features
Interview: Ashley Banjo of Diversity talks about starring in this year’s Mayflower panto and more
Photos by Stuart Martin. This year’s Christmas pantomime at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, starring Britain’s Got Talent winners and street dance sensations, Ashley Banjo and Diversity, alongside panto royalty, Christopher Biggins. Diversity shot to fame in 2009 when they won Britain’s Got Talent...
Heritage: why are people from Southampton called Sotonians?
By Martin Brisland. Photo: Mike Daish. Do you regard yourself as a Sotonian? Do you live in Soton? Have you ever wondered where these words come from? They are thought to have been first used by a former Southern Daily Echo editor Clarence Firbank Carr (1892-1979). Echo journalists found...
Interview with Punk Rock Factory – from online fun to TikTok stars, now selling out a venue near you!
By Nick Mabey. Punk rock, Disney songs and sausages; in the words of Maria Von Trapp, these are a few of my favourite things. And so it was I keenly put my hand up to interview Peej Edwards, singer and guitarist with South Wales on-line-turned-live band Punk Rock Factory,...
Photos: Black Businesses, Art and Music Festival – Southampton
Photos by Charlie Hislop and Anita Foxall. More than 50 black-led organisations in Southampton and Hampshire-based organisations teamed up to create Southampton’s first ever Black Businesses, Art and Music Festival, held on Sunday 1st October, the first day of Black History Month. The idea was conceived by The United...
Interview: Katherine Barbour, Southampton’s first Green councillor, on her first months in office
Words and pictures by photographer Chris Moorhouse. Five months after Katherine Barbour was elected as Southampton’s first Green councillor, Chris Moorhouse asks how it’s going. Her smile at being elected in the early hours of the morning of May 6th was an abiding image of this year’s local election...
Photos: Southampton International Boat Show
Words and photos by Mike Daish. On Monday I visited the Southampton boat show. As soon as I stepped out of my front door, the heavens opened, and I did wonder if it was wise to be going. I got a little damp, but luck was on my side,...
Under the Covers – August: Meet prize-winning Totton-born author/illustrator Kim Hillyard
By books editor Carolyn Thomas. Images by Jasmine Joynson. In just a few years Totton-born children’s author and illustrator Kim Hillyard has cornered the market in life-enhancing stories featuring quirky animal heroes. So far she’s featured a fly, a hamster, and a mammoth in her beautifully illustrated stories for...
Photos: butterflies, a lady and a dragon
By Mike Daish. I have not been very active with my camera recently, but have taken a few pictures here and there. Most have been in my garden where I have spent many hours watching the local wildlife come and go. One of my favorite visitors is the peacock...
Southampton Pride drops sponsorship from ExxonMobil and HSBC following calls from local LGBT+ environmental campaigners
By Sally Churchward. Picture by Mike Daish. Southampton Pride has ended ties with ExxonMobil and HSBC following calls from local LGBT+ environmental campaigners. Previously both organisations were listed as ‘bronze sponsors’ on the Southampton Pride website. Southampton LGBT+ Climate Coalition, recently published an open letter to the organisers of...