25 moments that made Tate Modern — seeds, spiders and sharks
It was hailed as a cathedral of art — appropriate to its humongous size, the building adapted from a disused Giles Gilbert Scott power station on the South Bank in London by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron — and it's hard to fathom now how game-changing that entrance through the vast Turbine Hall was. Open and expansive, rather than grand and forbidding, it was an invitation to small children to hurtle
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Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
My 40 fabulous years covering Fergie from remote ranch to ski trip dance – and why she's so different to other royals
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) IN a couple of months, Sarah Ferguson turns 66 and will become a pensioner. The significance of her next birthday, on October 15 means that I have now been working with Fergie for 40 fabulous years. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 8 In 1996, on the day Sarah Ferguson's marriage ended, Arthur took this photo of her with daughters Eugenie, right, and Beatrice at an equestrian event in West Sussex Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 8 Arthur with the Duchess in 1992 at a restaurant in Klosters Credit: The Sun 8 The Sun's royal photographer Arthur Edwards has been taking snaps of Sarah for 40 years Credit: Paul Edwards Despite her ups and many downs over those four decades, Sarah, Duchess of York, as she is still known, is still one of my favourite royals. After being set up on a date engineered by Princess Diana, Fergie started going out with Prince Andrew who, back then in 1985, was one of the world's most eligible bachelors. Falklands hero 'Randy Andy' fell head over heels for the extrovert redhead, and the following year rumours of an engagement started to circulate. Every morning a huge mob of press photographers and camera crews would appear outside her office in London's West End to film her going in to work. 'Are you harassing me?' After three days, her father Major Ronald Ferguson, Prince Charles' polo manager, phoned me and asked: 'Is there anything you can do to make it easier for Sarah?' So, I spoke to all the photographers and said, 'Can we stand back, not hassle her, let her walk into work and we will still get good pictures.' Incredibly, everybody did as I asked but I'd spent so much time organising it I never got to take a photo myself. But in all the years I worked with Fergie after that, she never forgot what had happened that day. By July 1986, Sarah and Prince Andrew were getting married. Watch charming old footage of Fergie, as she makes it back into the Royal fold after being pictured with the Queen's dogs. Two nights before the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, I went on the Wogan show. I told Terry how I was desperate to take the kiss picture because five years earlier so many photographers had missed the shot of Charles and Diana kissing on the Buckingham Palace balcony. I didn't need to worry because Andy and Sarah kissed so often I shot a whole roll of film. Then Fergie cupped her ear in a message for me — we heard you, Arthur. She was a joy to work with, a joy to photograph and never once — however bad things were in her life — turned her back on me. In August 1990, her stepfather, Argentine polo player Hector Barrantes, was dying of cancer, age 51. 8 Swiss ski holiday with Beatrice, right, and Eugenie in 1990 Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 8 Horse riding with Princess Beatrice in Argentina during trip in 1990 to see Sarah's mum Susan Barrantes Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 8 Fergie at a charity fundraising event in Italy last month Credit: Getty Fergie travelled to Argentina with two-year-old Beatrice and Eugenie, who was just a babe in arms, to say a final farewell to her mother's second husband. I was sent out there and found myself at the gates of a ranch on the outskirts of a strange town nearly 350 miles south of Buenos Aires, where the banks had guards armed with machine guns. With no phone to contact Fergie, after an hour stood outside the gates I was wondering what to do when I spotted two horses walking slowly towards me. Dancing with Duchesses On one horse was Fergie with little Beatrice perched on the saddle and by her side rode her mother, Susan, who had left her husband's bedside so I could take a photograph. There were fun times too, like skiing in the Alps where she always gave me an exclusive picture, whether it was the girls blowing out candles on Andrew's birthday cake or when she fell and posed with her arm in a sling. I often joke that one of my hobbies is dancing with Duchesses. Fergie was the first Duchess I ever danced with. On a ski trip to Klosters in January 1992, I was in a restaurant when Fergie walked in. I spotted her and joked: 'Are you harassing me?' Suddenly an oompah band struck up a fast quickstep. I caught her eye and, with a nod, she said: 'How about it Arthur? Come on — let's boogie.' Fergie was just so different to any other member of the Royal Family. Arthur Edwards Before I knew it, my arm was around her waist and we were whirling around the floor. We must have been on our feet for 15 minutes. Later, her policeman came over and said: 'The Duchess says if you ask her to dance again, I can take a photo of you both.' There were other great photos along the way. But it isn't just because of her willingness to help me get a great picture that I like her. In Los Angeles she gave a speech at a convention when somebody shouted: 'I love you Fergie,' and she replied: 'I'll get your number later!' Fergie was just so different to any other member of the Royal Family. She made mistakes, like the 1992 'toe-sucking' incident in the south of France with her Texan millionaire financial advisor John Bryan, but she just couldn't cope with being bossed around by the men in grey suits at the Palace and decided to leave the Royal Family. 8 One of many kisses with Andrew on Buckingham Palace balcony at wedding in 1986 Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 8 The couple's gesture to Arthur to show they had heard his request for photo of them kissing Credit: check copyright On the day her marriage to Andrew officially ended in 1996, she had taken the girls to a show-jumping competition at Hickstead, West Sussex. She told me: 'You were there at the beginning — you should be here at the end.' The following year she was staying with Beatrice and Eugenie at a fantastic private villa in Italy. The world's press were camped outside but I got a message saying: 'She'll be at this beach. Don't tell anyone — just go there.' I arrived at a little hut and got wonderful pictures of her and the girls preparing a picnic and running on the beach together. And when her friend Princess Diana died in that horrific crash in August 1997, I was at the airport in Paris when my phone rang. It was Fergie, who had been very close to Diana, asking if I was alright. Back into the fold Even though she is reaching pension age, I know she will carry on campaigning to find a cure for Motor Neurone Disease and for her children's charities. Despite her fun-loving reputation, she is a worker. When she was £4million in debt she worked her socks off for WeightWatchers in America, flying to the US every week. She also worked for Wedgwood and Waterford Crystal in Ireland. I remember her telling me: 'It's so lovely not to have any more debt.' In 2022, the year the Queen died, I was invited by King Charles to take a special photograph of all the Royal Family after the Sandringham Christmas church service. I spotted Fergie looking out the window, and when she saw me she came rushing out to kiss and hug me. The King had invited her back into the fold. Even though they have been divorced for nearly 30 years, and I imagine there's been lots of tears and lots of anger, she will always be there for Andrew. One thing I know about the King is that he is a kind man who was never going to kick his brother and Fergie out of their home, Royal Lodge at Windsor. He's not that sort of person. Sarah and Andrew are still very close and will be until the day they die.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
Reframing the debate over Tate attendances and exhibitions
Tate Britain's visitor numbers continue to rise year on year, and Tate Modern is the most visited museum of modern art in the world. Over 6 million people visited a Tate gallery in 2024. Your report (Tate director blames Brexit and Covid for slump in visitors, 29 July) compares our latest attendance figures for Tate Modern and Tate Britain against the most visited year in their history, 2019, when they had 700,000 more visitors than the year before. It would be fairer to compare with an average of annual attendances before Covid. As your article notes, the number of UK visitors to Tate's galleries has returned to 95% of pre-pandemic levels. Attendances at paid-for exhibitions at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain are also back up to pre-Covid levels. Almost all of the remaining shortfall is in international tourists' visits to the free collections. However, a further 1 million people engaged with Tate works in exhibitions worldwide. While demographic changes in European visitation have had an impact, our success with local audiences, the achievement that your article notes of 76,000 visitors to Tate Modern's Birthday Weekend (70% of whom were under 35), and our upcoming programme of Pablo Picasso, JMW Turner, John Constable and Tracey Emin, have given us a stronger platform than ever for future BalshawDirector, Tate I would have to agree with those who blame Tate's woes on things other than Brexit and Covid. Since the heady years of the noughties and teens, it seems that the Tate has failed to really capture the imagination with its exhibitions offer. Where are the shows of the magnitude of Cruel Tender that shed new light on what a photograph could be and do? Nor has there been anything to match the gutsiness of the Mona Hatoum retrospective, the delight of Christian Marclay's The Clock, the immersiveness of Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project or the political cogency of Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds. Apart from the Lynette Yiadom-Boakye portrait show at Tate Britain and the El Anatsui pieces in the Turbine Hall, there has been little, in terms of contemporary art, to set the pulse racing of late. It doesn't help that the Turner prize – once a focus of national conversation – is now so low-key as to barely warrant a mention in the press. Maybe contemporary art has run out of energy, but surely in the current era we need a vibrant art and public gallery scene to engage us in discussion of pressing BlissTonbridge, Kent Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Destination X - How to play along at home with BBC One show
Destination X has kicked off on BBC One, with Rob Brydon dropping a cast of strangers in various places all over the world - and challenging them to work out where they are BBC One's brand new reality competition Destination X kicked off this week, with 13 strangers hoping to win £100,000 by correctly guessing where in the world they've been plonked. Hosted by Rob Brydon, the series takes its adventurous cast to a different location each episode, where they must use the show's cryptic clues to work out where they are. Whoever's guess is the furthest away from the actual destination is kicked off the show RV, while the others get even closer to that jackpot prize. Fans have been gripped by Destination X since it aired on Wednesday night, with many left gobsmacked by one challenge that required one contestant to abseil out of a gondola that was up 2,000 metres in the air in the Swiss mountains. Those watching at home can also play along with the contestants from the comfort of their sofas thanks to the BBC's brand new website. It comes after Strictly's Anton Du Beke shared heartbreak over wife's 'cruel and inexplicable' diagnosis. If you would like to know how you can guess along with the Destination X contestants, here's everything you need to know. How play Destination X at home To play along with Destination X at home and have a go at guessing where the contestants are, all you need to do is head to the BBC's Destination X website. You will be required to log into your BBC account or set up one to do so, but once you're in, you can choose an episode to play along with. In order to narrow down your guessing area, you can answer five trivia questions - if you answer them correctly, the map will become smaller, giving you a better chance of choosing the right location. You can always play the 'Where Am I?' game, where you're dropped into the Google StreetView of a random location and must guess within a five kilometre radius of the place. When you're ready, you can place your X on the map and once the episode has aired, the website will reveal whether you were correct or not. For every right answer you get - within 50km of the destination - you earn a virtual badge that you can share with your friends. So far in the competition, we've seen five contestants be brutally cut from the competition - with three being booted from the show before even leaving the airport for the first destination.
