Actor Sir Patrick Stewart pays tribute to a former teacher as he is knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
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Poet Andrei Voznesensky, one of the most daring writers of the Soviet era, dies aged 77.
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Lord Bragg is to be presented with an Academy Fellowship by Bafta for his “outstanding and exceptional” contribution to television.
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Simpsons star Homer Simpson is named the greatest character created in TV and film in 20 years, in a survey for US magazine Entertainment Weekly.
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Shrek Forever After beats competition from Sex and the City 2 to stay top of the US box office, early estimates show.
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Comedian Ken Dodd was one of the biggest recording artists of the 1960s, new research reveals.
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Hopper directed and starred in Easy RiderHollywood actor Dennis Hopper has died at the age of 74 following a long battle with prostate cancer.
Known for such cult classics as Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Blue Velvet, Hopper embodied the image of the Hollywood icon.
Hopper died on Saturday morning surrounded by friends and family at his home in Venice, California.
He was last seen in public in March when he was honoured with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
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Lena invites everyone to a party…With her runaway victory at the Eurovision Song Contest, German teenager Lena has ushered in a new era for the annual music jamboree.
Not only has she signalled an end to a politically-motivated, 13-year losing streak for the "big four" countries who help fund the competition, but her winning song, Satellite, has reclaimed the contest's musical credibility.
With echoes of Lily Allen and Paloma Faith, it is the first contemporary pop hit Eurovision has produced in decades.
And Lena was not alone in embracing the charts, with the top three songs all displaying a welcome maturity.
Turkey's entrants, maNga, are a nu metal band who picked up an MTV Award last year; while Belgian singer-songwriter Tom Dice moulded his song on the hit singles of David Gray and James Morrison.
Billowing hair
2010's competition got off to a rousing start, as Azerbaijan's Safura took to the stage in a dress that literally lit up like a Christmas tree.
Her song, Drip Drop, was widely tipped to win but her look (lion-maned temptress) and song choice (over-wrought power ballad) was replicated too often to stand out.
Indeed, there were so many seductive women with manes of hair billowing into the wind, that you began to think the audience consisted entirely of wind machines.
France’s uptempo Allez Olla Ole was well received
One plucky soul was determined to prove otherwise, however, and ran onto the stage in a jester's hat during Spain's performance – the first Eurovision stage invasion since 1964.
Daniel Diges got to perform his song again but, to be honest, it was better the first time.
Romania, on the other hand, made actual sparks fly when male-female duo Paul Seling and Ovi shot flames out of their sleeves; while Belarusian group 3+2 marked the climax of their song by sprouting butterfly wings.
Gimmicks aside, it was a clutch of uptempo numbers that received the best reaction inside Oslo's Telenor Arena.
Among them were Greece's tub-thumping machismo-fest OPA! and France's rambunctious Allez Olla Ole.
If your bottom didn't wiggle to that one, then your bottom was malfunctioning.
‘It’s unreal’
But amidst all the hotpants, fireworks and questionable haircuts (I'm looking at you, Serbia) it was a lone 19-year-old pop singer who made the biggest impression.
Lena had no complicated choreography, no inexplicable backing dancers and she wore a simple black dress – the sort of thing you could pick up tomorrow in any high street store.
Julia Frost, who co-wrote the winning song, has a proven track record
Her refreshingly direct performance reflected a vivacious, playful personality.
Following her victory, she ran into the press centre, showering photographers with champagne and chanting "Ich liebe Deutschland".
She joked that she had been in a relationship with last year's winner, Alexander Rybak "since three years and four months" and answered one question simply by blowing kisses at the assembled journalists.
"I think it's unreal! I'm very happy," she exclaimed. "I hope everyone's going to make it to the party tonight!"
Contest cliche
At the other end of the scale, UK entrant Josh Dubovie will be drowning his sorrows after taking last place, with a measly 10 points.
His fatal mistake was to cling stoically to decades-old Eurovision cliche, in a year when the contest finally dragged itself into the 21st Century.
That Sounds Good To Me was written by Pete Waterman and Mike Stock – bankable hitmakers in their heyday, but that heyday was 20 years ago, and their song sounded like it had been pulled off a shelf marked "Jason Donovan rejects (1988)".
By contrast, Julia Frost, who co-wrote Lena's song, works for RedZone entertainment – the US company responsible for Rihanna's Umbrella and Britney Spears' Me Against The Music.
Her writing partner, John Gordon, told the BBC that Satellite was composed three years ago and "wasn't even written for Eurovision".
"We were just so ahead of our time and finally the rest of the world caught up with us!" Frost joked.
She may not be wrong.
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Dubovie was chosen to represent the UK in MarchActs from 25 countries are preparing to take part in the grand final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, taking place later in Norway's capital Oslo.
British hopes rest on 19-year-old Josh Dubovie, who will perform a Mike Stock and Pete Waterman song called That Sounds Good To Me.
The UK has not won Eurovision since 1997, when Katrina and the Waves triumphed with Love Shine a Light.
Bookmakers have made Azerbaijan favourite to win the contest.
Their chosen act, Safura, will open Saturday's show with her song Drip Drop.
Because the phone vote that decides the winner opens at the beginning of the show, it is thought the 17-year-old may have an advantage over her fellow contestants.
More than 125 million watched last year's competition in Moscow, when Norwegian violinist Alexander Rybak took home the trophy with a record 387 points.
The economic downturn has hit this year hard, though, with several countries having to pull out of the event because they could not afford to take part.
Graham Norton will host the BBC's live TV coverage of the event, which kicks off at 2000 BST on BBC One.
Bookmakers have made Safura from Azerbaijan favourite to win
Radio listeners, meanwhile, can hear Ken Bruce report on proceedings on BBC Radio Two from 2000 BST.
Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, Waterman admitted it was "highly unlikely" the UK will win this year's competition.
However, he added, "there is always an outside chance that something bizarre might happen."
Dubovie was chosen to represent the UK after securing the most public votes on Your Country Needs You! on BBC One in March.
Bookmakers Ladbrokes have given him odds of 175/1 – the lowest given to any UK Eurovision hopeful ever.
The UK is one of five automatic finalists, alongside France, Germany, Spain and last year's winners Norway.
The remaining 20 finalists have been whittled down from the 34 countries that participated in the two semi-finals that took place on Tuesday and Thursday.
Among them is Niamh Kavanagh, who is representing the Republic of Ireland for the second time after winning the competition in 1993.
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Highlights from the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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