Billie Eilish will top the bill at next year’s Glastonbury Festival to become the event’s youngest ever solo headliner.

Eilish will perform on the legendary Pyramid Stage on the Friday evening of the festival next June.

The 19-year-old hinted only hours before the announcement that she had been tapped up to play the event, posting a picture on her Instagram stories of her wearing a Glastonbury hoodie with the caption “2022”.

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said: “We couldn’t be happier to announce that the wondrous Billie Eilish is headlining the Pyramid on the Friday at next year’s Glastonbury Festival, becoming the youngest solo headliner in our history.

“This feels like the perfect way for us to return and I cannot wait!”

She performed at the festival in 2019 on The Other Stage, belting out hits such as Bad Guy and You Should See Me In A Crown, but next year will mark Eilish’s first headline slot in the UK.

Glastonbury was due to celebrate its 50th birthday in 2020, but as with most other large scale events, it was cancelled as a result of the pandemic.

Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Sir Paul McCartney had been due to headline, with Diana Ross in the Sunday legends slot.

It was also axed this year and turned into a virtual event, with the likes of Coldplay, Damon Albarn and Wolf Alice all performing on the stream.

It has been a big year for Eilish – having also released a new album, been featured on the cover of British Vogue and had her own Disney+ concert.

She was also behind the latest Bond song, No Time To Die, which she wrote with her brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell, as well as Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr.

Next year’s Glastonbury is due to take place between 22 and 26 June, with tickets already sold out.

The new James Bond film, No Time to Die, is set to break a pandemic box office record and gross an estimated $119.1m (£87.9m) internationally.

According to NBC Universal, No Time To Die – Daniel Craig‘s last outing as James Bond – is set to be the first title from a big studio to be released during the pandemic to gross over $100m without China.

It’s been a strong box office start for the latest 007 film, which hit cinemas last Thursday, giving a much-needed boost for an industry hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film is expected to bring in as much as Skyfall but 17% less than Spectre, the previous two releases.

It brought in $25.6m (£18.9m) after only three days of release in the UK and Ireland, adding $11.4m (£8.4m) on Saturday – making it the highest single day at the box office in the history of the franchise.

It was the highest single day gross since the release of Avengers: Endgame in April 2019.

Speaking to Sky News ahead of the release of his final turn as the secret agent, Craig said it was a “joyous thing” to see the film finally coming to cinemas.

“It would have been sad [to see it on a streaming service], and we got here and we’re going to actually get into the cinemas,” he said.

It comes after delays caused not only by the pandemic, but by the departure of original director Danny Boyle, too, plus Craig getting injured on set.

Liam Gallagher has announced a huge show at Knebworth – a return to the site of his history-making gigs with Oasis back in 1996.

The Knebworth Park performance in Hertfordshire in June 2022 will be the biggest of Gallagher‘s solo career to date, just as the famous concerts were for Oasis when they played to 250,000 people over two nights 25 years ago.

“I’m absolutely buzzing to announce that on 4 June 2022 I’ll be playing Knebworth Park,” the singer said in a statement sent to Sky News, signing off in the style of his typical Twitter posts, “It’s gonna be biblical. C’mon You Know. LG x”.

The gig will follow the release of Gallagher’s third solo studio album C’MON YOU KNOW in May 2022, for which he is hoping to score a fourth consecutive number one – after topping the charts with his first two, As You Were and Why Me? Why Not, and a live album released in 2020.

August 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of Oasis’ famous Knebworth gigs, and fans have been reliving their memories following the release of the Oasis Knebworth 1996 documentary earlier in September.

More than 250,000 people descended on Knebworth Park to watch the huge shows, which took place 10 months after the release of the band’s second album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? as they were at the height of their fame. Just two years on from putting out their debut record, Definitely Maybe, Liam and his brother Noel had taken Oasis from a council estate in Manchester to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world.

The new documentary features fan accounts of what it was like to be in the audience for the band’s most famous shows, as well as unseen archive footage from the gigs and backstage.

“Everyone wanted to be there,” director Jake Scott told Sky News ahead of its release. “It was already famous before it happened, the biggest rock concert on British soil in history.”

The programme also highlights the relationship between Noel and Liam at the time, before things turned acrimonious. In the film, Noel compliments his brother, saying: “You’re only as good as your frontman, any band, and if that is Oasis at its peak – which it is – it’s because Liam’s at his peak.”

Can he match it as a solo artist a quarter of a century later?

Gallagher has been performing as a solo artist for the last few years, after first fronting his band Beady Eye following Oasis’ split in 2009.

His Knebworth announcement follows headline sets at Reading and Leeds Festival and TRNSMT over the summer, alongside a free gig for NHS staff at the O2.

Kasabian, Michael Kiwanuka, Goat Girl and Fat White Family will play the support slots.

Tickets for the Knebworth gig go on general sale on Friday 8 October through Live Nation.

He is an amateur street artist-turned-professional who counts the Obamas, late comic book legend Stan Lee, and the Pope among his high-profile fans.

Known as Mr Brainwash, he insists he is paying tribute to artists such as Banksy, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons by reproducing their work.

“You are kind of honouring them… because there are some pieces that you cannot get; it’s impossible, so I think of it it as loving and sharing.”

Mr Brainwash, who was born in France and lives in Los Angeles, found fame in Banksy’s documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop. In it, the prolific graffiti artist, with his identity hidden in shadow, said: “This guy tried to make a documentary about me – but he’s actually a lot more interesting than I am.”

The man Banksy referred to in the documentary is Mr Brainwash, whose real name is Thierry Guetta.

Guetta’s starring role in the academy award-nominated film catapulted him from amateur videographer and used clothing store owner to a global pop-artist who has sold millions of pounds worth of work.

Talking to Sky News at Clarendon Fine Art Gallery in Covent Garden, the impact of the film was not lost on Guetta.

“Twelve years later, I can meet some people in the street and they say ‘Oh my God, I just saw the movie yesterday’… and I’m like, it’s 12 years ago… and you just keep going and keep going.”

He added: “It was incredible. I mean, it’s a journey that, you know, it’s like when you have dream and live… something you think is not possible.”

But he points out that Mr Brainwash’s potential global appeal and success was always within Thierry Guetta, even before Banksy focused the lens on him.

“It didn’t change my life, but it continued my life because… you know, my life’s always been, you know, since I’m a kid… they call me crazy.”

Once just a part of Banksy’s art, the man also known as Thierry Guetta is now a bona fide artist in his own right. And with show-stopping exhibitions and a celebrity fan base many would envy, Mr Brainwash’s future looks bright.

“I feel like I want to give a lot more. This is really like the beginning of what I want to give,” he said.

Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Eminem are among the artists that have been announced to perform at next year’s Super Bowl half-time show.

The NFL said they will be joined by Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on 13 February.

The five music stars, who have 43 Grammys between them, will perform together for the first time ever in a show that will likely draw millions of viewers.

Dre helped launch the careers of some of hip hop’s greatest – including Snoop Dogg and Eminem – and the trio will work together for the first time since Dr Dre’s multi-platinum-selling album 2001, which was released in 1999 – despite Eminem and Dre performing together at the Coachella festival in 2018.

“This will introduce the next saga of my career,” Dr Dre wrote on Instagram.

“The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl LVI half-time show, and to do it in my own back yard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career,” he said in a statement.

The seven-time Grammy winner added that the half-time performance will be an “unforgettable cultural moment”.

Dre, Snoop and Pulitzer prize winner Lamar, who announced he will release his final album for Top Dawg Entertainment in August, all hail from Los Angeles in southern California.

The performance comes as the the Super Bowl – the showpiece event of American football – returns to the Los Angeles area for the first time since 1993.

Last year’s game was played at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, with The Weeknd performing at the half-time show.

Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9, in a match that saw crowds limited to 25,000 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

For the past three years, the half-time show has been produced by the NFL, Pepsi and Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s entertainment company.

Jay-Z said in a statement that the show will be “history in the making”.

A host of superstars have previously performed during the half-time show, including Beyoncé, Madonna, Coldplay, Katy Perry, U2, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.

It’s not every day you find yourself getting existential with a film star – but as Guy Pearce’s new film is set in a futuristic world where life-like droids can’t be discerned from real people, it’s got him questioning what it is to be human.

In Zone 414, the actor plays David Carmichael, an ex-police officer tasked with finding the kidnapped daughter of the man who creates the world’s AI machines.

In order to find the missing girl, his character must befriend one of the look-alike robots, forcing him to reflect on what’s real, and what’s programming.

Pearce, best known for films including Memento and LA Confidential – as well as his rise to fame in Australian soap Neighbours – told Sky News it’s a question we may need to ask ourselves as real-world tech gets smarter.

“The whole evolution of technology and where we’re heading and this rapid desire for very smart people out there who invent technology to create versions of ourselves is really kind of fascinating and disturbing at the same time,” he said.

“And the idea that will those robots, will those androids, become more human or more human than us, or will they become human at all? You know, that’s fascinating as well.”

The actor says he has been asking himself some fundamental questions.

“Where does humanity really come from? Where does it sit? Is it only injected into us as human beings or is there just as much humanity in a chicken, but just because it doesn’t speak we don’t know and could it therefore be implanted into a robot?

“That whole idea about our identity and psychology in this kind of setting was really fascinating.”

Despite grappling with the issues around developments in AI, Pearce said the technology is not something he is familiar with.

However, the star suspects he’ll end up learning from the next generation.

“If Siri accidentally comes on, I’m immediately going, ‘no, off, I don’t need your help, go away!’

“I’m not so much a Luddite, but just an oldie I guess – it’s interesting having Monty, my little boy. He’s only five, so he’s not really aware of what’s possible on a screen yet, but certainly you see him being drawn to it. And I know there will clearly come a point, probably very quickly, where he’s way ahead of me.”

Pearce’s character in Zone 414 is a man of few words. He says he prefers to portray what’s going on through his physicality.

“I’m eliminating dialogue all the time if I can,” he said. “I’ve got to be careful not to fall into the pattern of just turning every character into a silent communicator, because that’s not right for every character – some people are just naturally much more verbose.

“But in this case we understand later the baggage that he’s bringing with him and that on some level he’s shutting down as a human being – he’s just doing what’s necessary to survive… there’s something in that that I find kind of sympathetic and sad, noble or frustrating as well.”

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Earlier this year, Pearce played a love interest for Kate Winslet’s Mare in the hugely popular small-town US crime drama Mare Of Easttown.

As an old friend of the Oscar-winner, he came on to the project late after another actor dropped out – and admitted it still seems strange that he was in it at all.

“They had been shooting for some months anyway by the time I came in, funnily enough. I did one day on 12 March of last year and we shut down [due to the pandemic],” he said.

“And I really only had about seven or eight days work, so that in the end took about six months because we didn’t go back until September of last year to finish off my stuff, and so in a weird way I feel slightly disconnected from the show because it was such a brief time – but I also feel very connected to the show because of my connection with Kate.”

Pearce, who was born in Cambridgeshire but grew up in Australia, says he was “wrapped” when Winslet, Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson won Emmys for their roles in the series.

“I was very, very happy for the show but it was funny too watching the show because my story is kind of really separate from everything else in Mare’s life,” he said. “I was really just there, I guess, to sort of remind Mare that she can have love in her life as well as work really hard.

“So it was funny watching the show because I just felt like I was a fan watching, you know, like anybody else can: Oh, and there’s me – oh that’s right, I forgot I did this.”

Zone 414 is available on digital download from 4 October

Artist Anish Kapoor has said the art world must resist the government’s “outrageous” “right-wing agenda” when it comes to teaching children.

At a retrospective of his paintings at Modern Art Oxford, Kapoor hit back at what he sees as the government’s targeting of the arts.

Secondary schools had been due to receive up to £25,000 each per year towards arts education but, despite being an election manifesto promise, schools minister Nick Gibb confirmed in September that there will be no arts premium this year – citing COVID-19 pressures.

Coming after previous cuts made in the last few years, many schools have now dropped arts subjects due to a lack of funds.

Kapoor told Sky News that funding cuts are effectively removing the arts from the core curriculum, which is detrimental to children’s education.

“What are we doing – educating our children to be fodder for the capitalist machine?” he said. “How dare they? How outrageous. It’s a right-wing agenda, but we have to resist with all our energy.”

Since winning the Turner Prize in 1991, Kapoor has become one of Britain’s most prominent contemporary artists – who famously generated headlines with his polarising Olympic Park commission, the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

His latest exhibition is not for the fainthearted. Giant blood red oil paintings presented alongside sculptural guts and trays of blood, taking audiences to a very primal place and conjuring up images of ritual human sacrifice.

“I don’t see it as gory, weirdly, I think it’s opening up what we all carry within us… clearly at one level death is here but – I hope – so is beginning,” he said.

“You know, people may love it or hate it. What can I do? I still have to take that risk with myself.”

While he is more known for his sculptures, Kapoor has always painted.

“I’ve been making paintings for the last 30 years and they’ve always formed a background or been parallel to the sculpture. Of course, it’s a different medium, but one that I’m deeply interested in.

Quoting Picasso, Kapoor said that he too believes “art is war” – and that he hope his most recent works make people feel “bloody uncomfortable!”

Anish Kapoor: Painting is at Modern Art Oxford from 2 October to 13 February

An array of mysterious billboards with the number 30 have popped up across the world, sparking speculation among fans that Adele may be about to release a much-anticipated new album.

Photos of the signs have been snapped across the world on various iconic landmarks in locations including Dubai, Ireland, France, Italy and the US.

There has been no official confirmation from the Grammy award-winning artist, but the number would fit with her previous pattern of naming albums after her age.

The 33-year-old singer’s thirtieth year also marked the age she separated from her ex-husband Simon Konecki.

A new record would be Adele’s fourth album and first in six years, following 2015’s record-breaking 25.

That record, which followed her 2011 record 21 and her debut 19 in 2008, broke the single-week US album sales record, went on to sell some 23 million copies in total, and also earned her two Grammys: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Speculation that Adele would be releasing a new record has been rife on the internet over the last year.

Last October, Adele, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight, appeared as the host on US TV show Saturday Night Live.

It prompted speculation she was on the verge of releasing her new music at around the same time.

However, she revealed during the show that she was only on hosting duties, with singer-songwriter HER appearing as musical guest.

She referenced the rumours in her opening monologue, saying: “I know there’s been a lot of chatter about me just being the host. Like ‘Why isn’t she the musical guest?’ and stuff like that. And there’s a couple of reasons.

“My album’s not finished, and I’m also too scared to do both… I’d rather just put on some wigs… have a glass of wine or six and just see what happens.”

Meanwhile, rumours that the singer could release the record before Christmas were further fueled by a radio DJ named Mauler last week.

According to Billboard, Mauler sent out a tweet that was later deleted on Tuesday, which said, “New Adele. This week”.

Van Halen rocker David Lee Roth has announced that he plans to retire from performing.

The 66-year-old singer said his final performances would be in the US city of Las Vegas early next year.

The first in a series of five solo shows will be on New Year’s Eve and the last will be on 8 January.

He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring.

“This is the first – and only – official announcement. You’ve got the news. Share it with the world.”

Roth added: “I’m not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe. These are my last five shows.”

The news comes almost a year after bandmate Eddie Van Halen died of cancer, aged 65.

Roth said: “I am encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter.”

Van Halen, a guitarist, formed the band of the same name in California in 1972, with Roth on vocals, his brother on drums, and Michael Anthony on bass.

They released their self-titled album that year, followed by four more.

The band is best known for its hit single Jump.

The record it was taken from – 1984 – sold 10 million copies in the US alone, and the band went on to sell more than 50 million albums in their home country.

Roth had three stints in Van Halen, the most recent ending last year when they disbanded after the death of their guitarist.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In the skies over Hollywood a small plane pulls a banner reading “vote yes”.

On a monitor on a movie set, the same words are scrawled on a piece of luminous tape.

On a crane hoisting bits of scenery into place, the same slogan is emblazoned in big letters.

That simple message is at the heart of a dispute which could shut down movie and television production across the United States within days.

The 60,000 members of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are voting this weekend on whether to authorise the first strike in the union’s history.

If it goes ahead it would be the biggest private sector strike in the US for decades and would cripple much of the country’s entertainment industry.

The union represents the behind-the-scenes workers, camera operators, stage hands, set designers, dozens of jobs in the armies it takes to create our favourite shows and movies.

They are unhappy at what they see as longer shifts, poor working conditions and low pay. An industry that has just emerged from the shutdown of the pandemic is ready for more wholesale disruption in the cause of fairness.

IATSE members have received support from across the entertainment industry and members have flooded the Instagram account @ia_stories with their unhappy tales of life in the business.

Cinematographer Peyton Skelton recounted how he had crashed his car driving home from work early on a Saturday morning after an 80-hour week. “The toll on the body and toll on the mentality of each worker is great,” he told Sky News.

Members often talk about Friday work rolling into Saturday mornings, the so-called “fraturday” shift.

Union members are also unhappy that many discounted pay rates agreed with streaming services when they were new players on the production scene are still in force despite the explosive growth of those firms.

“Flash forward 12 years later and streaming is obviously the thing, it’s the main game in town and it’s the future but it’s also the present,” said Gene Maddaus of Variety magazine.

“Big budget stuff is happening under these lower wage contracts and major streaming companies are using these lower wages and the unions are saying this is basically a loophole at this point.”

It is 14 years since writers in Hollywood went on strike for 14 weeks, a shutdown that was estimated to have cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars.

This strike would be far more wide-ranging, with members from almost every area and stage of production. A handful of TV firms on different contracts would not be affected.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major studios, said it has put forward an offer to meet the union’s demands. Negotiations are likely to continue even if IATSE members vote “yes”.

“We love our jobs and know we are lucky to have them,” said Peyton Skelton, “but these things need to be addressed.”