English Teacher has been announced as the winner of this year’s Mercury Prize, with the album This Could Be Texas.
The band were emotional on stage after winning the prize, with their debut studio album.
This year’s Mercury Prize ceremony took place for the first time at the world famous Abbey Road Studios, a move from the Hammersmith Apollo.
English Teacher follows in the footsteps of Ezra Collective in 2023, as well as other recent honourees including Little Simz, Arlo Parks, Michael Kiwanuka, Dave and Wolf Alice.
First won by Primal Scream’s Screamadelica in 1992, the award celebrates music by British and Irish acts, from veteran stars to newcomers – recognising the 12 best albums of the year and potentially putting artists who are not huge names on the map.
Mercury Prize 2024 – the 12 shortlisted albums
Barry Can’t Swim – When Will We Land?
BERWYN – Who Am I
Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
Cat Burns – Early Twenties
Charli XCX – Brat
CMAT – Crazymad, for Me
Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows
corto.alto – Bad With Names
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas
Ghetts – On Purpose, with Purpose
Nia Archives – Silence Is Loud
The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy
Pulp’s Different Class, Dizzee Rascal’s Boy In Da Corner, and Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not are some of the biggest albums to have been recognised over the years.
Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys are the most shortlisted acts, with both featuring on five different occasions – although only Arctic Monkeys have a win. Both the band’s frontmen have also been nominated on separate occasions; Alex Turner with The Last Shadow Puppets, and Thom Yorke for his solo debut.
PJ Harvey is the only artist to date with two wins, from four nominations.
The 2024 ceremony was hosted by broadcaster and author Annie Mac and BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Huw Stephens, while judges included broadcaster and writer Danielle Perry, musician and BBC Radio 2 broadcaster Jamie Cullum, DJ and BBC Radio 6 Music broadcaster Jamz Supernova, DJ and broadcaster MistaJam, and The Times’ rock and pop critic Will Hodgkinson.
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Albums with a UK release date between 15 July 2023 and 12 July 2024 were eligible this year.
The judges said in a statement: “This has been a really tough year for the Mercury Prize judges, with the final 12 albums being so reflective of our diverse and rich musical landscape. There was so much passion and enthusiasm for each one.
“In the end, though, we did agree that This Could Be Texas by English Teacher stands out for its originality and character.
“A winning lyrical mix of surrealism and social observation, alongside a subtle way of wearing its musical innovations lightly, displays a fresh approach to the traditional guitar band format.
“This Could Be Texas reveals new depths on every listen; the mark of a future classic.
“The Mercury Prize was set up to celebrate the album as an artistic format in its own right and all the judges agreed that this charismatic body of work deserves to be the 2024 Mercury Prize Album of the Year.”
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Eddie Murphy has told Sky News he doesn’t ever expect to win awards – but will happily accept an honorary Oscar when he’s 90.
Murphy is one of the biggest stars in comedy after starting out on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 1980 and starring in a number of big franchises from Beverly Hills Cop to Shrek.
His latest project is heist comedy The Pickup, centred on two security van drivers. Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson star alongside him.
Image: Pete Davidson, Eddie Murphy and Keke Palmer in The Pickup. Pic: Amazon MGM Studios
Murphy says award recognition was never something that shaped the projects he chose.
“The movies are timeless, and they’re special, so for years and years those movies play and the movies have commercial success.
“So you make a lot of money and people love it, so you don’t even think about ‘I didn’t win a trophy!’ The response from the people and that the movie has legs, that’s the trophy.
“You know what I’ve earned over these years? One day, they’ll give me one of those honorary Oscars. When I’m really old. And I’ll say thank you so much for this wonderful honour. I’ll be old like that and I’ll have no teeth. I’m cool with getting my honorary Oscar when I’m 90.”
Murphy, 64, has only been nominated once – for Dreamgirls in 2007, when Alan Arkin won the best supporting actor Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine.
Murphy’s co-star Palmer says she considers Murphy an icon in the industry, and The Nutty Professor was a true display of his artistry.
Image: Eddie Murphy as Sherman Klump in The Nutty Professor. Pic: Reuters
“I feel like recognition and [being] underrated and all this stuff, it annoys me a little bit because I think impact is really the greatest thing, like how people were moved by your work, which can’t really be measured by an award or really anything,” Palmer says.
“It’s very hard to make people laugh, and so when I think about it like The Nutty Professor, Eddie was doing everything, and I swear that the family members were real people.
“He didn’t camp it to the point where they weren’t realistic. His roles had integrity, even when he was in full costume. And I do think that’s something that should change in our industry. Comedy, it should be looked at just as prestigious as when you see somebody cry, because it’s that hard to make somebody laugh.”
Image: Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson in The Pickup. Pic: Amazon MGM Studios
Recalling his time on the 90s comedy, Murphy says he’s still in disbelief of what they achieved in making the film with him playing seven characters – Professor Sherman Klump, Buddy Love, Lance Perkins, Young Papa Klump, Granny Klump, Ernie Klump and Mama Klump.
“You can only shoot one character a day. And the rest of the time you’re shooting, I’m talking to tennis balls where the people were sitting.
“So to this day when I watch it, I’m like, wow, that’s a trip. But we were able to mix all that stuff up and different voices and make it feel so that you don’t even feel like when you’re watching it, someone have to tell you, hey, you know, those are all one person.”
The film won best makeup at the 1997 Academy Awards.
Security guards buddy comedy
Palmer says their new project, The Pickup, is responsible for one of the most memorable moments of her life when she mistook Murphy’s acting for real praise.
“First of all, Eddie gives me this big speech before I do the monologue, where he’s like, ‘this is not playing around. This is a pivotal point in the movie’.
“I’m crying in the scene, and then it comes to the end, and Eddie’s [clapping] like, and I’m literally like, ‘oh my gosh, thank you so much’. And he’s like, ‘I’m acting’. When I tell you, it was so crazy, yeah. That’s like one of my most memorable moments in life.”
Image: Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson star in The Pickup
Davidson is excited to see how the UK puts its own stamp on SNL, the show where both he and Murphy got their start on-screen.
“It’s a smart idea to have SNL over there because it’s not that it’s a different brand of comedy, but it is a little bit. A lot of the biggest stuff that’s in the States is stuff that we stole from you guys, like The Office or literally anything Ricky Gervais does.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything American going to the UK, so I think it’s great. I think it’s great to have two opposite sorts of takes on things, but both be funny. That just shows you how broad comedy can be, you know?
Dean Cain has been branded the “worst superman ever” as he announced he will join the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “ASAP”.
The 59-year-old, who was cast as Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, announced he had joined the team amid the federal agency’s unprecedented immigration raids.
He told Fox News on Wednesday his recruitment video on Instagram had gone viral and since then, “I have spoken with some of the officials over at ICE and I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP”.
“You can defend your homeland and get great benefits,” he said in the Instagram post where he appealed for his followers to join ICE.
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Speaking with the Superman theme song in the background, he said “hundreds of thousands of criminals” had been arrested since US President Donald Trump took office.
He then told his followers they would get a series of benefits if they joined ICE, including a $50,000 (£37,407) signing bonus and student loan repayment.
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Who is being targeted in Trump’s immigration raids?
“If you want to help save America ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets,” he said, before adding: “I voted for that.”
ICE agents are under pressure from the White House to boost their deportation numbers in line with Mr Trump’s campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.
Cain’s post on Instagram received some backlash, with one user commenting: “Worst superman ever”.
Another said: “Shame on you Dean – that’s the most un-Superman thing you could possibly advocate.”
One fan turned against him and said: “Until I saw this I was such a fan. What a sad human being you must be.”
A man who stalked actress Anna Friel for nearly three years is to be sentenced next month.
Phil Appleton, 71, sent numerous messages, visited the actress’s home address several times and left “unwanted” gifts between January 2022 and December last year, Reading Crown Court previously heard.
The defendant, described online as an actor and retired pilot, admitted stalking under Section 2A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 earlier this week.
Appleton was due to be sentenced on Thursday but judge Alan Blake adjourned the hearing until 18 September for a pre-sentence report to be carried out.
The court heard the pensioner, from Windsor in Berkshire, has been in custody for six months and has spent time in a mental health facility.
Granted conditional bail, he was told he must not contact Ms Friel or enter the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and is to co-operate with those conducting the pre-sentence report.
Friel, 49, rose to fame with her role as Beth Jordache in Channel 4 soap opera Brookside.