Be there first Circus-style theatre comes to London in Afrika! Afrika! opening this week after heavy advertising which has been around for months. Performers from 17 different African nations make up the show; contortionists, acrobatics, jugglers, high-wire acts, musicians, singers, the list goes on. If you're thinking of joining the reported 1.5 million who've seen the show since it launched in Germany in 2005, bear in mind: ticket prices are up with the high......

Damien Hirst has made the Tate's Christmas by gifting them 4 of his art works. The infamous cow and calf bisected and suspended in formaldehyde, "Mother and Child Divided" is the Turner Prize winning crowning glory. This is a high profile donation, timed for maximum festivity and goodwill but Hirst's generosity is not spontaneous or even his own idea. He pledged works to the Tate back in 2004 as part of the Building the......

No, it's not some 'attack of the giant cathedral eating spiders' B-movie filmset but the return of Maman, the giant spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, which originally stalked the Turbine Hall when Tate Modern opened in 2000. Bourgeois herself is now 95 and, given that much of her work is based on introspection, nostalgia, the exploration of her psyche and her parents (the spider, Maman, is of course a tribute to her mother) this......