Greg James shares his heartbreak after death of dog Barney

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 05, 2026 / comment : 0 BBC News, news

The Radio 1 presenter said his beloved pet had to be put to sleep in the garden of his home.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/OW5DIr9

Greg James shares his heartbreak after death of dog Barney

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 05, 2026 / comment : 0 films E, news

The Radio 1 presenter said his beloved pet had to be put to sleep in the garden of his home.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/rHWDE8u

Monumental statue reused as pavers found in Turkey

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 04, 2026 / comment : 0

A monumental marble statue broken in two pieces has been discovered embedded in a later Roman pavement at Sardis in western Turkey. At 7’3″ high, the sculpture is larger-than-life sized and in an excellent state of preservation despite its advanced age and having been recycled. Archaeologists estimate it dates to between 470 and 450 B.C.

The two halves of the statue were unearthed at an entry gate to Sardis from the Roman period. They had been placed face down so that the smooth back would be effective paving stones in the colonnaded street leading into town. That had the unintended but felicitous consequence of preserving the fine carving of the face, hair and clothing.

It is thickly coated in a hard layer of mineral deposits from its centuries as a paving stone. Conservators will clean it with meticulous care to ensure no possible traces of polychromy that may survive under the coating is damaged. They will also analyze soil samples collected from the find site for potential traces of paint.

The figure depicts a young man with long hair flowing down the shoulders with a wavy band around the forehead that curves over his ears. He wears a heavy himation (mantle) over a thin chiton (a tunic that fastens at the shoulders). A third garment with horizontal stripes is underneath the chiton and himation. In his right hand he holds a fruit, perhaps a quince, extended in offering to the deities.

These features are from the Lydian culture, which makes this statue different from other examples from the same period found in Anatolia and Greece.

The sculpture dates to a period when Sardis served as the satrapal capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire’s western province. A satrap was a provincial governor, while a satrapal capital functioned as an administrative center.

The statue brings together the classical artistic style developing around the Aegean with Lydian clothing traditions and visual expression. Its size and state of preservation make it a rare example among early monumental sculptures found across the Mediterranean.

Researchers expect the work to provide further information about the beliefs, daily life and culture of Sardis’ elite during the early fifth century B.C.

* This article was originally published here

Massive Attack respond after Singapore ban over Palestine display

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 04, 2026 / comment : 0 BBC News, news

The UK band says they are "surprised and disappointed" by their treatment over shouting "free Palestine" at a concert there.

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Massive Attack respond after Singapore ban over Palestine display

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 04, 2026 / comment : 0 films E, news

The UK band says they are "surprised and disappointed" by their treatment over shouting "free Palestine" at a concert there.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/U6Jctwq

Update: Double portrait of Victorian heiresses saved for the nation

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 03, 2026 / comment : 0

The unique double portrait medallion of Victorian heiresses Florence and Alice Campbell sculpted by Henri-Joseph François, Baron De Triqueti, in 1857 has been acquired for the Buscot Park estate in Oxfordshire after an emergency export ban prevented it from leaving the country.

The sculpture was bought at auction in 2025 by a private buyer who applied for an export license. The UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport placed a temporary export bar on the piece, because it is the only double portrait in Triqueti’s oeuvre and of “outstanding significance to the study of Triqueti’s sources, work practices, patronage networks, and the commissioning of medallion portraits by English families.”

The export bar gave a UK institution until February 2026 to show the willingness and ability to raise the £280,000 necessary to reimburse the buyer and save the portrait for the nation. The Faringdon Collection Trust launched a fundraising campaign and were able to reach their goal, securing the portrait medallion of Florence and Alice Campbell for the permanent collection of Buscot Park.

Buscot Park is a perfect new home for the girls. Florence (the future subject of intense and repeated scandal) and Alice were the daughters of Australian gold trader and entrepreneur Robert Campbell who bought Buscot in 1859 and transformed it into a model agricultural estate. The 18th century Buscot Park was all but derelict when he bought it. He transformed it into one of the most highly industrialized farms in the country, building a massive reservoir fed by pumps on the Thames to create a massive irrigation system capable of watering its thousands of acres of farmland.

He grew sugar beets to make sugar that he then distilled into alcohol, something that had not been done before in England at a commercial scale. He built a railway to transport the harvest around the estate and a telegraph system to communicate instantly throughout the property instead of sending a guy on horseback.

Campbell had moved his family to England in 1852 and set to vigorous work climbing the social ladder. Triqueti was an enormously successful society sculptor, creating works for the highest echelons of British aristocracy, including Queen Victoria herself, so Campbell commissioned him to make the double portrait of his beloved daughters.

Florence was 12 years old when Triqueti made the portrait. Her little sister Alice was nine. Florence is on the left side with her hair gathered in a snood at the nape of her neck. Alice is on the right with her hair in pipe curls. They gave lovingly at each other and hold an urn with a growing lily. The medallion is bordered by an intricate floral wreath. The flowers symbolize purity, charity and their sisterly devotion.

Florence would marry at 19, separate, be widowed, have a very public affair with a married quack “doctor” old enough to be her grandfather, get an abortion, marry again, be widowed again, be accused of having poisoned him with antimony, become an alcoholic recluse and die at 33.

By then her father was gravely ill and his experiments in industrial agriculture at Buscot ended in bankruptcy. He sold the distillery and factories, and after his death in 1887, the entire estate was sold to financier Alexander Henderson, later the 1st Lord Faringdon. He was an avid collector of art, as was his heir Gavin Henderson, and the Faringdon Collection art decorates the interiors of Buscot today. Now the Campbell sisters have joined the masterpieces by Rembrandt and Reynolds.

* This article was originally published here

James forced to pull out of Belladrum headline slot as Tim Booth loses voice

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 03, 2026 / comment : 0 BBC News, news

Festival producer Dougie Brown said it was rare to lose a headliner but Razorlight had been asked to step up to the slot on Saturday night.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/L0C3u9l

Roman road found under new highway in Germany

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 02, 2026 / comment : 0

A section of Roman road has been found at the site of planned autobahn construction near Drackenstein in southern Germany. It dates to the 1st century, likely built during the reign of .Emperor Vespasian (r. 69-79 A.D.)

The State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (LAD) at the Stuttgart Regional Council has been overseeing archaeological investigations of sites of cultural interest in advance of new highway construction on the Swabian Alb plateau.

So far, approximately 90 meters [295 feet] of the “Alblimes Road” have been excavated. This road connecting Rottweil and Heidenheim an der Brenz is one of the oldest in Baden-Württemberg and was likely built under Emperor Vespasian. Alongside the Roman forts and settlements, the “Alblimes Road” represents the crucial infrastructure of the newly established province of “Germania Superior” in the 1st century AD. It served a communicative function in terms of economic and strategic exchange and marked the border between the Roman Empire and the then-independent Germania for over a century.

The Swabian Alb is a natural land bridge from the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen to the Nördlinger Ries 130 miles away. As it did with the Danube, Rhine and other natural features, Rome integrated the plateau into its border, creating the “Alblimes” (Alb boundary): a series of forts built on the plateau connected by the road of the same name.

The road was built using the striking bright white Jurassic limestone from the eroding edge of the Swabian Alb. Stones were collected and used as the foundation layer of the roadbed. They would have been covered by gravel, sand and a top layer of paving stones.

The excavation has uncovered evidence of Roman use of the road. Objects found in the vicinity of the Alblimes road include a bronze coin from the 1st century, very worn but believed to be one issued by the Emperor Domitian, Roman iron shoe nails that studded the soles of the legionaries’ caligae (hobnailed sandals), and a Bronze Age pin with a spool-shaped head that was removed from a cinerary urn displaced during construction of the Roman road. The team also found a Bronze Age urn partly buried under the road.

* This article was originally published here

What your summer reading list says about you

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 02, 2026 / comment : 0 films E, news

Just picked your holiday book? Our choices can subconsciously reveal important parts of our personality, studies show.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/bpGdIKW

Large polychrome mural fragment found in Urartian fortress in Armenia

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on August 01, 2026 / comment : 0

A fragment of a polychrome mural from the Kingdom of Urartu has been discovered at the Erebuni archaeological site in Yerevan, Armenia. It dates to between the second half of the 7th century B.C. or the beginning of the 6th century B.C.

The new fragment was discovered by the French-Armenian archaeological mission. It is exceptionally well-preserved, with vivid colors and bold black outlines. It appears to depict a religious ceremony.

The discovery offers archaeologists a valuable new glimpse into the artistic traditions and decorative practices of the ancient Kingdom of Urartu. Its unusually vivid pigments are expected to provide important material for further research into Urartian art, architecture and painting technique

The Erebuni Fortress was built in 782 B.C. by King Argishti I of Urartu, one of several fortified cities built on the northern border of the Urartu Kingdom. It was both a military stronghold, used as staging grounds for northern campaigns by successive kings, and one of the most important religious, political and commercial urban centers in the heart of the Urartian kingdom. It was abandoned in the 6th century when the kingdom was conquered by the Medes or Persians. The name of the modern city of Yerevan is a derivation of “Erebuni.”

The site was first excavated in the late 19th century. Excavations in the 1950s and 60s unearthed key inscriptions dedicated to the founding of the city and fragments of murals from the interior of King Argishti’s palace.

* This article was originally published here