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It’s almost 12 years to the day that a Taliban gunman shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in the head as she travelled home from an exam on a school bus packed with fellow pupils.

Now one of Pakistan’s best-known public figures, the activist, Oxford graduate and youngest Nobel laureate in history is releasing her first feature.

Malala addresses the United Nations on her 16th birthday. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Malala addresses the United Nations on her 16th birthday. Pic: Reuters

The 27-year-old tells Sky News: “I’m pretty new to Hollywood, but it’s been an incredible journey for me so far.”

An outspoken critic of Muslim under-representation in Hollywood films, Yousafzai founded her production company Extracurricular in 2021 in partnership with Apple TV + in a bid to “shake things up”.

She says: “There are so many passionate women and artists from different diverse backgrounds, including Muslim communities and people of colour and they have incredible stories.

“I hope to work with more incredible artists and directors out there in the many years ahead to help us bring more perspectives and more voices and reflections from people who don’t often get a chance.”

A 2022 study showed that Muslims are 25% of the population, but only 1% of characters in popular TV series.

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As for whether it’s getting better, Yousafzai says: “There are incredible Muslim artists who are really changing the narrative, and I do hope that more of them will get a chance to tell their story and just bring more diversity to how stories are told.”

She says the documentary she’s just released – The Last Of The Sea Women, about a group of female divers in their 60s, 70s and 80s – is “an amazing beginning” to her new adventure as a Hollywood executive.

Extracurricular has previously said it would consider producing a fictionalised account of her attempted assassination but signalled they first need to find a “surprising way in” to the story.

And Yousafzai is full of surprises.

(R-L): Lee Hee Soon, Malala Yousafzai, Sue Kim and Jang Soon Duk. Pic: Apple TV +
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(R-L): Lee Hee Soon, Malala Yousafzai, Sue Kim and Jang Soon Duk. Pic: Apple TV +

Malala Made Me Do It

Earlier this year, she made her acting debut in the second season of Channel 4’s reverential and hugely popular comedy We Are Lady Parts.

Her episode even featured a spoof song inspired by her activism – Malala Made Me Do It.

Yousafzai’s passionate advocacy for access to education for women and girls in countries where it is restricted is now stepping into a new realm – entertainment.

Her deal with Apple will cover dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation and children’s series.

Future productions include a movie adaptation of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s book Disorientation, and a scripted series based on Asha Lemmie’s coming-of-age novel Fifty Words For Rain, about a woman’s search for acceptance in post-World War Two Japan.

Read more
Malala Yousafzai takes human rights to big screen
Malala calls out Hollywood for lack of Asian representation

The Last Of The Sea Women tells the story of the Haenyeo, a “badass girl gang” of grandmothers living on South Korea‘s Jeju Island who dive to the ocean floor without oxygen to gather food for their community.

Earning a reputation as real-life mermaids, despite diving for centuries, their traditions are now under threat.

In a bid to save their way of life, they are now teaching younger women, who being from Generation Z, are sharing their stories on TikTok.

Haenyeo divers of South Korea’s Jeju Island. Pic: Apple TV+
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Haenyeo divers of South Korea’s Jeju Island. Pic: Apple TV+

Elderly Asian women ‘as heroes’

The film’s director Sue Kim – who calls working with Malala “the joy and pleasure of my life” – says she was excited to showcase an underrepresented group in her work.

“It’s rare to see women portrayed as the sole heroes in the film. Two Asian women are not often portrayed as the soul heroes in the film. And then elderly Asian women.

“It’s three demographics where I do think there’s a bit of a gap of representation and portrayal in the heroic world. And that was something I was excited to show in the film.”

Yousafzai says of the Haenyeo: “When I look to them, I personally, as a woman, feel that there’s no limit to what I can do.”

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She goes on: “We would be in a very good place if we were under the leadership of the Haenyeo, for sure…

“We need women in leadership. We need a society where women can get equal opportunities. And a woman should never be told that she cannot be in a certain role.”

Previously nominated for an Oscar for the documentary short Stranger At The Gate, Yousafzai is optimistic The Last Of The Sea Women could be part of the next awards conversation too.

“Why not? I think it deserves all the applause and the credit.”

The Last Of The Sea Women is streaming now on Apple TV +

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Actor Timothy West has died, aged 90

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Actor Timothy West has died, aged 90

Actor Timothy West has died peacefully in his sleep aged 90, “with his friends and family at the end”.

He was known for many roles in television and the theatre, including popular soaps Coronation Street and EastEnders.

Husband to 92-year-old Prunella Scales – who played Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers – the pair travelled together on UK and overseas canals in the Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys.

His children Juliet, Samuel and Joseph West, said in a statement issued by his agent: “After a long and extraordinary life on and off the stage, our darling father Timothy West died peacefully in his sleep yesterday evening. He was 90 years old.

“Tim was with friends and family at the end. He leaves his wife Prunella Scales, to whom he was married for 61 years, a sister, a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. All of us will miss him terribly.

“We would like to thank the incredible NHS staff at St George’s Hospital, Tooting and at Avery Wandsworth for their loving care during his last days.”

Timothy West and Prunella Scales.
Pic: Geoff Pugh/Shutterstock
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West with his wife, Prunella Scales. Pic: Geoff Pugh/Shutterstock

He was the winner of an RTS television award for his lead role in Churchill And The Generals, released in 1979, according to imdb.com.

In his career, he played Winston Churchill three times, including in The Last Bastion (1984) and in Hiroshima (1995).

West was also nominated for best actor in the 1976 BAFTAs for his part as Edward VII in the historical drama.

Four years later, he was nominated in the same category for a number of roles, including as best actor in Crime And Punishment.

Timothy West (right), in BBC One's  drama, Last Tango In Halifax.
Pic: PA
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West (right) in BBC drama, Last Tango In Halifax. Pic: PA

After a small part as Eric Babbage in Coronation Street in 2013, West appeared in 2014 for the first time as Stan Carter in EastEnders.

He also held other popular TV roles, such as in BBC comedy-drama Last Tango In Halifax.

Timothy West as King Lear during a photocall for the 2003 English Touring Theatre production of William Shakespeare's King Lear.
Pic: PA
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West as King Lear during a 2003 English Touring Theatre production of William Shakespeare’s tragedy. Pic: PA

In the long-running BBC comedy, Not Going Out, he played Geoffrey, the father of Lucy Adams, played by Sally Bretton.

In comedy-drama Brass, he was the ruthless self-made businessman Bradley Hardacre, playing the role from 1982 to 1984 before returning for a third series in 1990.

In 2019, the Bradford-born actor played Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes, a recreation of three missing episodes of the BBC comedy Dad’s Army.

He was also a regular performer of Shakespeare, playing Lear in 2016 and 2002.

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Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? – 40th anniversary track revealed

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Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? - 40th anniversary track revealed

An “ultimate” version of Band Aid’s famous festive hit Do They Know It’s Christmas? is set to be released to mark the song’s 40th anniversary, featuring the voices of original singers as well as younger artists.

The track will feature voices from Band Aid 1984 including George Michael, Sting and Boy George, alongside the likes of Harry Styles, Chris Martin, the Sugababes, and Ed Sheeran, who appeared on the Band Aid 20 and Band Aid 30 versions in 2004 and 2014.

It will also feature the vocals of a young Bono, who recorded the song’s famous line – “Well tonight thank God it’s them, instead of you” – singing with his older self.

Pic: PA
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The original version included artists such as Sting, Boy George, George Michael, and Bono. Pic: PA

The singers will be backed by the Band Aid house band of Sir Paul McCartney, Sting, Duran Duran’s John Taylor, Phil Collins, Queen’s Roger Taylor, Supergrass’s Danny Goffey, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood, Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, Midge Ure, Gary Kemp and Justin Hawkins.

Other voices to feature on the 40th anniversary remix include Sam Smith, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Rita Ora, Bananarama, Seal, Sinead O’Connor, Robbie Williams, Kool And The Gang and Underworld, with proceeds going to the Band Aid Trust.

And in a new video, the late David Bowie will introduce the song’s stars, with newsreader Michael Buerk’s BBC report on the song also featuring.

The history of Band Aid

Bono of U2 arrives for the recording of the Band Aid 30 single at Sarm Studios in Notting Hill, London, in 2014. Pic: Anthony Devlin/PA
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U2’s Bono also returned for the recording of Band Aid 30 in 2014. Pic: Anthony Devlin/PA

Led by Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof and Ultravox’s Ure, the original Band Aid single saw artists join forces in 1984 to help charities working with starving children in Ethiopia.

The song went straight to the top of the charts that year and at the time held the record as the fastest-selling single of all time in the UK, selling a million copies in the first week alone.

It remained at number one for five weeks and went on to sell more than three million copies.

The movement led to the famous Live Aid concerts around the world the following year, with artists including Queen, Bowie and Sir Elton John performing at Wembley in the UK.

Harry Styles, before he shaved his head in February 2023. Pic; AP
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Harry Styles featured on the 2014 version. Pic: AP

Do They Know It’s Christmas? was released again with different generations of stars over the decades, to raise money for other causes.

In 1989, Stock Aitken and Waterman produced Band Aid II, featuring just two of the artists from the song’s first iteration – Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward of Bananarama.

Band Aid 20 raised funds for Sudan’s Darfur region, while the 30th anniversary supported those helping throughout the 2014 Ebola crisis.

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In celebration of this monumental “instrument of change”, producer Trevor Horn has taken the recordings and blended all the voices “into one seamless whole”, organisers said.

The Do They Know It’s Christmas – 2024 Ultimate Mix will premiere on UK breakfast radio and streaming on 25 November, the 40th anniversary of the day artists went into the recording studio to create the original song. It will also be released physically on CD and vinyl on 29 November.

It will feature on a compilation also including the other recordings, plus the Live Aid Wembley 1985 version.

Artist Sir Peter Blake, 93, who designed the original sleeve – featuring a collage of Christmas card images alongside a hungry child – has returned to create the new cover.

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British author Samantha Harvey wins Booker Prize 2024

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British author Samantha Harvey wins Booker Prize 2024

British author Samantha Harvey has won this year’s Booker Prize with her book Orbital.

The novel, which is about astronauts on the International Space Station as they orbit the Earth, was announced as the winner at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in the City of London on Tuesday.

It has sold around 29,000 copies – more than the last three Booker winners combined had managed before they won.

Accepting the trophy, Harvey dedicated it to everybody who “speaks for and not against the earth” and “for and not against the dignity of other humans, other life and all the people who speak for and call for and work for peace”.

The former museum worker turned author said before winning that she would like to spend the £50,000 prize money on taking time out of her job to sculpt, and waste some of it on buying “expensive Danish liquorice”.

Harvey, who was longlisted for the prestigious literary prize in 2009 for her debut novel The Wilderness, is the 19th woman to win since the first award in 1969. There have been 36 male winners.

(left to right) Yael van der Wouden, Rachel Kushner, Anne Michaels, Queen Camilla, Charlotte Wood, Percival Everett, and Samantha Harvey during a reception for the Booker Prize Foundation at Clarence House, London. Picture date: Tuesday November 12, 2024.
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Booker Prize shortlisted authors with the Queen. Pic: PA

Admitting that she nearly gave up writing the novel altogether, Harvey said: “I lost my nerve with it.

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“[I] originally thought, ‘Why on earth would anybody want to hear from a woman at her desk in Wiltshire writing about space, imagining what it’s like being in space when people have actually been there’.”

Taking place over a 24-hour time frame as astronauts orbit the Earth 16 times, Orbital is the second-shortest book to claim the prize at 136 pages long.

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Artist and chairman of the judges Edmund de Waal described the book as one that “compelled” the judging panel.

“We were determined to find a book that moved us, a book that had capaciousness and resonance, that we are compelled to share,” he said.

“We wanted everything. Orbital is our book. With her language of lyricism and acuity, Harvey makes our world strange and new for us.

“Our unanimity about Orbital recognises its beauty and ambition.”

This year, a record number of women were shortlisted for the Booker, with five nominated in total.

Earlier on Tuesday, all the shortlisted authors – Yael van der Wouden, Rachel Kushner, Anne Michaels, Charlotte Wood, Percival Everett and Harvey – attended a reception with the Queen, her first public engagement since falling ill with a chest infection.

A post on the royal family X account later shared a statement from Queen Camilla which congratulated Harvey on her win.

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