The Guardian Articles

Veteran children’s television star Simon Townsend has died aged 79, shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

The former newspaper and television journalist launched Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! on Channel 10 in 1979 with mascot Woodrow the Bloodhound. The ground-breaking show made him a household name …

Bestselling novelists Kate Mosse and Richard Osman have hit back at the government’s apparent plan to give artificial intelligence companies broad freedoms to mine artistic works for data, warning it could “destroy” growth in creative fields and amount to “theft”.

They spoke out after the prime minister, Keir Starmer, on …

A French woman who believed she was in a long-term romantic relationship with Brad Pitt and was scammed into paying €830,000 (£700,000) to help him with medical treatment faced such a wave of online mockery that a TV programme about her has been withdrawn.

The interior designer, named as Anne, …

The comedian and actor Tony Slattery has died aged 65 after a heart attack, his partner has announced.

Slattery was known for his improvisations on the popular comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as well as his appearances on Just a Minute and Have I Got News for You.

Late-night hosts discussed the

devastating wildfires

Jimmy Kimmel

After cancelling his show last week and evacuating for the LA wildfires – one of which burned a mere two miles from his …

In Nottingham, an army of tiny warriors is on the advance. Space Marines, Weirdboyz, Chaos Knights – and very small paint pots – are grabbing more territory as Games Workshop confirms plans for its fourth factory and buys land for two more to meet demand for its fantasy figurines.

It …

“We, as gay people, we get to choose our family,” said RuPaul Charles in a frequently cited line from a 2013 episode of Drag Race. On a different channel that year, HBO aired Steven Soderbergh’s TV movie Behind the Candelabra, a film adaptation of Scott Thorson’s memoir of the same …

Without clowning, Olly Mead would never have had the courage to become a politician; Issy Millsop wouldn’t have swapped her career for something that paid less but was more fulfilling; and Lucy Heard wouldn’t have learned to “appreciate silliness, being stupid and playful, and the freedom that gives me”.

Therapeutic …

Wang Xing thought he was travelling to a casting call with film producers in Thailand.

The 22-year-old Chinese actor, also known by his stage name Xing Xing, had been communicating on WeChat with people he believed were Chinese employees of a major Thai entertainment firm, according to Thai police. One …

Drag artists are under unprecedented pressure as they are “more visible, but also more debated” than ever before, performers have said, as they paid tribute to The Vivienne.

The international drag community came together in London for RuPaul’s DragCon UK over the weekend, its first large gathering since the Welsh …