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Liverpool will host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the BBC has announced.

It beat off Glasgow to win the chance to host the show, with the grand final taking place on 13 May 2023.

Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won this year’s contest but organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), ruled it would be unsafe to host next year’s contest in the country.

The UK’s Sam Ryder came second, with the BBC stepping in to offer to host the contest instead.

The BBC’s Graham Norton, who commentates on the event on behalf of the UK, revealed the announcement live on The One Show.

In a statement, the EBU said Liverpool, which is twinned with the Ukrainian city of Odesa, “was chosen following a strong city bid process that examined facilities at the venue, the ability to accommodate thousands of visiting delegations, crew, fans and journalists, infrastructure, and the cultural offer of the host city in reflecting Ukraine’s win in 2022, amongst other criteria.”

The head of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Osterdahl, added the city was the “ideal place” to hold the competition next year, and that Liverpool’s arena “exceeds all the requirements” to put on the show.

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Kalush Orchestra, reacting to the announcement, said: “We are very pleased that next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool.

“Though we haven’t had the privilege of visiting yet, the musical heritage of the city is known all over the world. Playing in the same place that The Beatles started out will be a moment we’ll never forget!

“Although we are sad that next year’s competition cannot take place in our homeland, we know that the people of Liverpool will be warm hosts and the organisers will be able to add a real Ukrainian flavour to Eurovision 2023 in this city.”

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan also congratulated Liverpool after the announcement, saying: “Huge congratulations to Liverpool. The city loves music and knows how to throw a party, so I’ve no doubt it will host a spectacular experience for the thousands in attendance and millions watching at home on the BBC.

“(Vladimir) Putin’s illegal war means the competition cannot take place in Ukraine, but Eurovision brings people together and, together with the government, I am sure Liverpool and the BBC will honour the country’s culture and creativity with an event to remember.”

Thoughts will now turn to planning the mammoth event, which consists of three live shows and countless rehearsals, and how it will be paid for.

Eurovision is usually paid for by the host broadcaster, the host city, and the government of the host country.

The BBC, which is the UK’s host broadcaster, has been forced to make cuts over the next few years, and the government is being faced with its own financial crisis, and it is not yet clear how the up to £20m bill will be footed.

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Liverpool City Council has said it will begin putting its plans into action, working with Ukrainian artists and creating an education programme.

Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson said: “I’m over the moon that Eurovision is coming to Liverpool!

“We knew that we faced strong competition from Glasgow, but we also knew that we had a great bid underpinned by the expertise of our award-winning Culture Liverpool team and supported by all our brilliant partners.

“This is a massive event and the eyes of the world will be on us in May, especially those of our friends in Ukraine.

“Now begins months of work to put on the best party ever. Ukraine – you have my promise we will do you proud.”

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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

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Davina McCall says she has short-term memory problems after brain tumour surgery

Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.

Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenter posted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.

She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.

Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.

“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”

She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”

In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”

When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.

The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.

She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.

Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”

McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.

Kate coming out of the Big Brother house in 2002
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McCall with 2002 Big Brother winner Kate Lawler. Pic: Rex Features

With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.

“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”

Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.

McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.

Davina McCall  with her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson after being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Pic: PA
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McCall with her MBE, alongside her partner Michael Douglas and her daughter Holly Robertson. Pic: PA

She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.

Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.

Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.

She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.

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Barbara Taylor Bradford, the ‘grand dame of blockbusters’, dies aged 91

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Barbara Taylor Bradford, the 'grand dame of blockbusters', dies aged 91

Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died at the age of 91.

The Leeds-born author, who sold more than 90 million books, died peacefully at her home on Sunday after a short illness and was “surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said.

Taylor Bradford, who was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, hit the big time when A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success.

The story sold millions of copies and traced the journey of Emma Harte from life as a servant in rural Yorkshire to heading a business empire.

The rags to riches story was followed by many other successful books with the author’s works being published in more than 40 languages across 90 countries.

Barbara Taylor Bradford,.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
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Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA

Barbara Taylor Bradford on her 21st birthday.
Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA
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The author on her 21st birthday. Pic: Bradford Enterprises/PA

Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said the author was a “natural storyteller”, adding: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman Of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it – and still does to this day.”

Taylor Bradford, who was made an OBE in 2007 for services to literature, wrote a total of 40 novels during her career – her most recent was The Wonder Of It All, published last year.

Barbara Taylor Bradford.
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA
Image:
Pic: Caroll Taveras/Bradford Enterprises/PA

File photo dated 01/06/93 of Barbara Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert at Claridges Hotel, London, during a visit to launch her new blockbuster book "Angels". Bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, who wrote A Woman of Substance, has died at the age of 91, it has been announced. Issue date: Monday November 25, 2024.
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Taylor Bradford with her husband Robert in 1993. Pic: PA

Born in May 1933 as the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor, she worked as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post before becoming a reporter and then the paper’s first woman’s editor.

At the age of 20, she moved to London and worked in Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News.

She met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961 and they married in London on Christmas Eve in 1963 before moving to New York the following year.

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The couple were married for 55 years until he died from a stroke in 2019.

Following a private funeral in New York, the author will be buried alongside her late husband at the city’s Westchester Hills Cemetery.

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn’t know when she’ll perform next

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Adele bids tearful farewell to Las Vegas residency as star admits she doesn't know when she'll perform next

Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.

The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.

Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.

In July, Adele said she would be taking a “big break” from music after her current run of shows.

Videos posted online from her concert on Saturday show the singer getting tearful as she bid Vegas goodbye.

“It’s been wonderful and I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly,” she said.

She added: “I don’t know when I next want to perform again.”

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Adele has performed every Friday and Saturday across the residency, with plenty of memorable moments.

One included when she burst into tears after spotting Celine Dion at a performance.

Adele is known to idolise the Canadian singer.

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Speaking at the beginning of September, during a show in Germany, Adele told fans she wouldn’t see them “for an incredibly long time”.

“I just need a rest and I have spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now,” she added.

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