Opera critic make-up gaffe

(Image credit: Daniel Thistlethwaite/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)

published 20 September 2023

An opera critic has described an 81-year-old actress's make-up as "frightful" – only to discover she wasn't wearing any. Richard Fairman, critic for the Financial Times, was reviewing the opening night of Das Rheingold at the Royal Opera House, of Erda, when he said Rose Knox-Peebles was "made up to look quite a fright". In a letter to the newspaper, Knox-Peebles wrote: "This is not so. I wore no make-up – the 'fright' look is all naturally mine."

Nazi uniforms cause fights

Scuffles broke out at a 1940s festival after a group of people turned up dressed in Nazi uniforms, reported The Telegraph. Many of the 25,000 revellers at the annual Second World War-themed event in Sheringham, north Norfolk, turned up in period dress, including a group of at least 10 men in Nazi-era German uniforms, complete with SS markings and swastikas. After onlookers confronted them, they were escorted out of the area by police.

Wrestling fight on Japan train

Wrestlers have fought in the narrow aisle of a packed bullet train in Japan. The fight, which pitted Minoru Suzuki against Sanshiro Takagi, took place on the 180mph Nozomi Shinkansen bullet train between Tokyo and Nagoya. The organised event proved popular, with 75 seats selling out within half an hour, said Sky News. The organisers have previously arranged bouts in other unusual places, such as a bookshop and a campsite.