Sydney Evans

Admit it, the past few weeks just haven’t felt the same without the scores of athletes running, diving and jumping all over our screens from dawn til dusk. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games saw GB rake in a load of medals, with Brits glued to our screens for everything from the gymnastics and rowing to the athletics. But the Games aren’t over just yet.  The 2024 Paris Paralympics kick off in the French capital this week, starting with the Opening Ceremony tomorrow night (August 28). With daily coverage of the Games, you’ll be able to get your fill of incredible athletes doing what they do best until September 8 when the Games come to a close.  From blind football to para-judo and wheelchair fencing, here’s everything you need to know about tuning in for your fix of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.  What channel is the 2024 Paris Paralympics on in the UK? Channel 4 will be showing the most of the Paralympics, with 1,300 hours of coverage on TV, streaming and the Channel 4 Sports YouTube channel.  The BBC will also have an evening highlights show that viewers can watch on TV, though there’ll also be coverage over on BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sport website.  Coverage start time and schedule  This year’s Paralympics will start with Channel 4’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony from 6.30pm on Wednesday September 28.  The rest of the Games is taking place between Thursday August 29 and Saturday September 7, and much of it will be live from 8am to 11pm daily.  In addition to the live covera

Listen up, Londoners! A paradise of steel pans, soca beats and booming reggae bass is just a few days away. That’s right, Notting Hill Carnival 2024 is taking place this weekend. Transforming the streets of west London into a parade of feathers, sequins and flags from across the Caribbean, the Bank Holiday spectacle is a vivid highlight in the capital’s summer calendar.  While the traditional J’Ouvert has been cancelled for this year’s event, there’s plenty more to look forward to – from soundsystems to floats surrounded by bedazzling performers. But what’s the history of Carnival? How did it start, and what shaped it into the spectacular celebration it is today?  Here’s everything you need to know about the history of Notting Hill Carnival before this weekend’s celebrations get started.  When and why did the Notting Hill Carnival start? A celebration of London’s Caribbean community, Notting Hill Carnival has been taking place for more than 50 years.  Although the ‘official’ Notting Hill Carnival was organised by Rhuane Laslett and Andre Shervington in 1966, the origins of the annual celebration began in 1959 over in north London.  Following a period of racial tensions in the capital that resulted in the Notting Hill race riots of 1958, Claudia Jones – a.k.a ‘the mother of Notting Hill Carnival’ – organised a Caribbean Carnival at St Pancras Town Hall in January 1959 complete with calypso singers, steel bands and a Carnival Queen competition.  It was the celebrations in 1966,

So far this summer we’ve celebrated England getting through to the finals of the Euros, a few Olympic victories and a dazzling display of Caribbean culture at Notting Hill Carnival this weekend just gone. But the fun isn’t quite over, because a nationwide celebration of all things cinema is taking place this weekend.  This Saturday (August 31) National Cinema Day will be returning to over 630 cinemas across the UK for a third year in a row.   Going to the cinema can be an expensive habit. When you add up the price of a ticket and an obligatory snack of sorts, you’re looking at a pretty sizeable cost – and it’s even more spenny at fancier kinos like Picturehouse and Everyman.  But on National Cinema Day, you can get into the big screen for just £4. Yep, four quid! Whether you're a film fanatic or simply blown away by a bargain, it isn’t a celebration to miss.  Organised by the industry body Cinema First with support from the Film Distributors’ Association and the UK Cinema Association, the celebrations will involve a mix of independent screens as well as the Vue, Odeon, Cineworld and Picturehouse chains.  It comes at a time when cinemas really need our love – and after a spate of closures across the UK. Bromley’s beloved Bromley Picturehouse closed at the start of August and before that the Fulham Road Picturehouse shut its doors. In July, cinema giant Cineworld announced it was looking to cut down on a number of screens throughout the country.  Whether you’re into A24 trendy

There are a few basic requirements most of us look for when finding a place to live in London. A bit of natural light (or at least a window) in a bedroom, a working shower and ideally some decent flatmates... that sort of stuff. But for some, that simply won’t do.  For those looking for that little extra something (and with immense amounts of cash), a spectacular penthouse overlooking Hyde Park has just come on the market for a whopping £60 million. Yep, £60 million.  What do you get for that price? Well, the pad comes fully equipped with one of the largest private terraces in central London. If that doesn’t quite do it for you, there’s also an in-house private cinema and cocktail bar, a gym complete with a sauna and a restaurant on site. There’s also a 24-hour concierge on hand to help and, complete with views of the City of London, the Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Palace, a move to the 7,000 square foot penthouse means you’d practically be neighbours with actual royalty.  Designed by architect Lee Polisano and property developers Fenton Whelan, the £530 million Park Modern luxury complex also has 57 built-in residences, each boasting floor to ceiling windows and en-suite bathrooms.  Located along Bayswater Road, Fenton Whelan is one of several businesses invested in the £3 billion glow-up planned for the area. Other planned local upgrades include an all-inclusive luxury wellness hotel, an Everyman cinema and a brand-new shopping centre. If the £60 million price tag for

There’s lots of things we’re known for in England. We’ve perfected the cuppa, we've got some pretty good pubs and we even managed to get a few medals at the Olympics this summer.  But when it comes to beaches – particularly sandy, pristine, sun-drenched ones – the UK isn’t quite so well regarded. Sure there’s some stunning parts of our coastline, but they don’t feel like much in comparison to the white-sand shores you can get over in Greece and Croatia. So it might come as a surprise to learn that one new ranking from travel insurance platform Quotezone.co.uk has named an English beach one of the best in Europe.  Bournemouth Beach is one of Europe’s top 10 beaches, according to Quotezone. The ranking looked at factors that included the number of five-star reviews and average sea temperatures in June. The Dorset beach apparently racked up a healthy 4.7 star review rating on Google and boasts some of the warmest temperatures in the UK, often averaging 15C in the summer months. That’s pretty balmy by British standards.  However, Bournemouth Beach didn’t quite compare to first-placed Nissi Beach in Cyprus, with its pristine waters and water temperature of 24.4C. Bournemouth Beach came ninth overall, with Nissi followed by Mellieha Bay Beach in Malta and Portoroz Beach in Slovenia.  The 10 best beaches in Europe, according to Quotezone Nissi Beach, Ayia Napa, Cyprus Mellieha Bay Beach, Malta Portoroz Beach, Slovenia Elafonissi Beach, Crete, Greece Zlatni Rat, Croatia La Pelosa Be

Londoners need two main things to keep happy – food and festivals. And this September we’ll be able to combine both because Wandsworth Council has approved plans for huge a day of Caribbean delights and music.  Taking place in Wimbledon Park on September 14, the Taste of the Caribbean Food and Drink Festival has been granted an indefinite licence to be held every year after a successful event in the same park last year. Under the new licensing rules, the Caribbean-themed festival will now be a permanent fixture at Wimbledon Park. Having hosted events across the country for the past four years, future editions of Taste of the Caribbean will take place in Wimbledon Park on any weekend between May and September, with the exact dates confirmed on a yearly basis.  With live music and a mix of street food stalls cooking up all kinds of Caribbean favourites, from jerk chicken to ackee and salt fish, roti and curry coat, Taste of the Caribbean is sure to be the perfect way to cure those Notting Hill Carnival blues. Alongside the food, performances will include Bob Marley and UB40 tribute bands, and there’ll be plenty of rum punch on hand to keep punters refreshed.  Promising to be a family-friendly affair, there’ll also be funfair rides and activities for kids including circus skills and puppet shows.  Open from 10am to 8pm, tickets for under-14s are £7 while adult tickets are £17. You can also buy family tickets for £41. Find out more about the festival and grab some tickets here. F

As it stands, London has a few types of e-bike users. First up are the hardcore Lime bikers. Exuding the same energy as Miranda (Meryl Streep) telling Andy (Anne Hathaway) at the end of The Devil Wears Prada that ‘everybody wants to be us’, Limers are officially the cool kids of e-bikes. Next up there’s the Human Forest users, whose sole purpose it seems is to let you know that you get 10 minutes of free riding per day, and last up there’s the reject-modernity-embrace-tradition crew still opting to use TfL’s Santander Cycles.  But soon London’s cycle hire scene will have a new kid on the block. Voi has announced the company is in talks with councils to bring thousands more rental e-bikes to London’s streets. To start off with, Voi intends to deploy a fleet of 20,000 e-bikes across London. The Swedish company, which already operates e-scooters in the city, will apparently use an algorithm to find where bikes are most in demand by London riders and drop them directly off. Voi’s decision to introduce e-bikes comes after it threatened to withdraw its e-scooters due to heavy regulations making them ‘financially unsustainable’. As it stands, you need to be 18 years old to rent an e-scooter in London and hold a full or provisional UK driving licence.  The company currently operates e-bikes in other cities across the UK including Liverpool, Oxford and Southampton, but it won’t launch here until legal agreements with London boroughs are signed.  Look out for when they do arrive thoug

Noah Kahan fans you’re in for a treat. The Grammy-nominated singer from Vermont, USA known for his mix of folky-rock tunes is back in London this week for two major shows at the O2 arena as part of the summer UK/EU leg of his We’ll All Be Here Forever World Tour.  Kahan’s return comes less than a year after the artist wrapped his sold-out Stick Season Tour at O2 Kentish Town forum last November. With capacity for 20,000 fans, the O2 arena will be one of his biggest UK shows. Heading to one of Kahan’s two shows in Greenwich this week? Here’s everything you need to know from when you can see the singer on stage to what songs he’ll likely perform.  When is Noah Kahan playing at London’s O2 Arena? Kahan’s back-to-back shows in London this week are on Wednesday August 21 and Thursday August 22.  Door times Doors to the show will open at 6:30pm on both nights. Don’t worry if you find yourself there a little earlier as the actual O2 arena is open from 10am.  What time will Kahan come on stage? Be ready for Noah to take to the stage at around 9pm on both nights.  Setlist It looks like Kahan has been switching up the order of tracks for each venue, but to get an idea of what you might expect, these were the songs he played at his show at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena last week. According to Setlist.fm, the list included an unreleased track called ‘Spoiled’ and his early song ‘Sink’ from the album Busyhead.   Dial Drunk New Perspective Everywhere, Everything False Confidence Forever Pain

Believe it or not, coins still exist. Yep, those shiny circular things the tooth fairy used to leave under your pillow are still legal tender and a brand new one has just been released in honour of King Charles III. Considering the monarch took to the throne back in 2022, it’s been quite the process getting these coins out, but The Royal Mint announced the new £1 tender will officially enter circulation this week. It comes after brand-new Kings Charles III banknotes were released earlier this summer.  Inspired by the King’s love of all things nature, the new design features a pair of bees on the reverse side of the coin, representing the 250 species that exist in Britain, and Charles’ face on the front (obvs).  The Royal Mint has been responsible for creating new coins for Britain’s monarchs since Alfred the Great, who was around way back in 848 AD, and while you definitely can’t use one of those medieval coins to grab a trolley at Tesco, you can still use cash with Queen Elizabeth II’s face on it.  There are a whopping 29 billion coins in circulation in the UK, and only three million of the new £1 ones have been issued to post offices and banks across the country, so keep an out for those bees.  Made with support from the Royal Horticultural Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the rest of the King’s collection of coins features flora and fauna found across the UK. From the red squirrel to puffins, daffodils and shamrocks, the remaining coins are expec

If we had the choice, we’re sure many Londoners would choose to fly from City Airport. Easy to get to and with fancy security scanners that let you bring liquid containers larger than 100ml, there’s a reason it was recently ranked the best airport in London and second-best in the entire UK. And soon you might actually be able to check-in for more flights from the east London airport, because it’s hugely expanding its services. This week the government officially approved plans to expand capacity at City by 2.5 million yearly passengers and gave the go-ahead for three extra morning flights to take off from the airport on weekdays. It’s one of the first major decisions made by the recently-elected Labour government on infrastructure in the capital.  The current limit on weekend operating hours will stay in place, with a Saturday service running between 6.30am-1pm and 12.30am-10.30pm on Sundays. The expansion is part of ongoing efforts from City Airport to raise its annual passenger cap from 6.5 million to 9 million by 2031, and while it might mean more flight options for Londoner’s, not everyone’s happy about it. Newham Council rejected plans for an expansion to the airport last July, raising concerns over the potential impact on the climate and noise in the borough where the airport is located.  It also came under scrutiny after it was found that one in four flights left the travel hub more than half empty in the first six months of 2023. We’re not not quite clear how adding

August is a busy month for the solar system. The first supermoon of the year is scheduled to appear on August 19 and this weekend the dazzling Perseids meteor shower is set to peak. First observed in 69 BCE, the Perseids is the result of Earth passing through a large stream of debris left over from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.  Near-ideal viewing conditions are predicted at the peak of the celestial event on August 11. As Earth passes through the midpoint of the debris, there’s rumours this could be the best meteor shower of the year so far. Up for spotting (and wishing upon) some shooting stars? If you’re in London, here’s everything you need to know about seeing the Perseids this weekend.  When will the Perseids be visible in London? The Perseids are active between July 17 and August 24, but the shower will reach its peak on August 11-12.  Your best bet at seeing the meteors illuminating the sky will be late at night this Sunday (August 11), after the moon has set, and the early hours of Monday morning (August 12).  The viewing conditions this year are set to be particularly good, as the moon will only be at 50 percent illumination at its peak. Therefore the night sky will be darker and it’ll be easier to catch a glimpse of the meteors. Sunday is also set to have quite good weather.  When do they peak? You could see as many as 100 ‘shooting stars’ each hour between if you head out between midnight and 5.30am on Monday morning. Conditions mean observers might see 40 meteors

Fancy a trip up Snowdonia? Longing to see the glorious golden coast lines of the Gower Peninsula? Or perhaps you’re in the mood for a slice of Italy without having to actually leave the UK? Whatever it is you’re looking for, chances are Wales has it.  And now it’s easier than ever to travel Wales by train. Thanks to Transport for Wales’s (TfW) newly re-launched ‘Explore Wales’ passes, passengers can enjoy unlimited train rides around the country.  The passes are valid for four days of travel across north and south Wales within an eight-day period (sort of similar to an Interrail pass), and includes travel on selected Traws Cymru bus routes.  At £149 for an adult ticket and £74.50 for children, you’d be foolish to miss out on an actually affordable train ride in the UK. And if you’re strapped for time, you can opt for the Explore West Wales or Explore Cambrian one-day pass at a reasonable £18 for adults and £9 for children. Usual discounts apply for those with a railcard.  Whether you fancy indulging in a literary feast in Hay-on-Wye, the town with over 20 bookshops, or seeing what all the fuss is about up in Wrexham, home to the oldest football club in Wales that Ryan Reynolds famously brought back in 2020, there’s no end to Wales’ wonders. If you’re still looking for inspo, check out Time Out’s list of the best things to do in Wales. Passes can be brought on the TfW website here, as well as at ticket offices and from train conductors. Bant a ni! Wales on rails Cardiff Bay t