Albums for children

Moulding a three-year-old's musical taste is utterly impossible, says Fiona Sturges
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Book review: Popcorn, by Garry Mulholland

It doesn't take a great leap of imagination to see why film directors find rock bands so compelling. Their stories invariably take in the crucial components of drama – rebellion, egotism, money, sex, drugs and, in the more extreme cases, death.
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Rufus Wainwright: 'Our family is a battered ship...'

Back with an album, a tour and an opera, the Canadian singer reveals how a series of births and deaths forced him to grow up
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A singer after a fashion

Karen Elson is the latest model to try her hand at making a pop album. Fiona Sturges looks at the successes and, more commonly, the failures of models-turned-would-be rock stars
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'I was told my career would collapse if I came out,' says Ricky Martin

His declaration has exposed pop's attitudes to homosexuality, says Fiona Sturges
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Traveller's Guide To The South Downs

Britain's 15th National Park comes into being this month, stretching from the woods of eastern Hampshire to the Seven Sisters cliffs in East Sussex. Fiona Sturges reports
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Music review - Grizzly Bear, Corn Exchange, Brighton

A Grizzly Bear gig is a civilised affair. The band thank us warmly for our support, pause to admire the venue's grand interior, and pay touching tribute to the city in which they find themselves ("Way to go, Brighton!")
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Who needs record labels?

The majors tried to justify their existence this week. But they need to smarten up their act to stay in business, says Fiona Sturges
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Caroline Quentin: 'I'm canny, but not very bright'

Caroline Quentin doesn't often get recognised these days. Occasionally, a cab driver might ask, "where have I seen you before?", or she'll get talking to a woman, in the loos of a restaurant, who will recall, with great conviction, that she was at their sister's wedding.
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Omid Djalili: 'I'm cast as the Arab scumbag'

The comedian and actor has a new film in which he plays a Muslim taxi-driver who discovers he's a Jew. But, generally, he says...
The Big Interview by Fiona Sturges
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Friends: Can't get used to losing you

Channel 4 is ending its repeats of Friends. Fiona Sturges misses them already
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Stay the night: Oxenford Gatehouse, Elstead, Surrey

The Landmark Trust's latest restoration is a model of its kind, but, says Fiona Sturges don't expect luxury
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How to quit while you're ahead: Lily's the sly, retiring type

She zoomed from obscurity to ubiquity, and now she's off. Or so she says. Lily Allen leaves them wanting more. By Fiona Sturges
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Gary Hume 'Now my sculptures stand up'

The one-time YBA, and Brit-art contemporary of Emin and Hirst, has made a major breakthrough in a crucial area of his work... Interview by Fiona Sturges
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Music review - Owl City, Komedia, Brighton

The story of Owl City is the stuff that indie dreams are made of: a pathologically shy boy from Hicksville, Minnesota, makes music in his parents' basement to pass the time during a bout of insomnia
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