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Folk girl Jackie Oates Waking up to lullabies

10:44am Thursday 18th April 2013

Tim Hughes speaks to Jackie Oates ahead of her Oxford Folk Weekend gig

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Theatre

Oh F%$* - it's a rollercoaster ride of shared mishaps

4:47pm Thursday 16th May 2013

The Oh F**k Moment was always going to be a brave idea, not just because of its title, but because it involves audience participation, and as we Brits are rather backward about coming forward, let alone spilling the beans, it seems an occupation more suited to our cousins over the pond.

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Music

Preview of Gilbert and Sullivan Festival at Blackwell's

1:56pm Wednesday 22nd May 2013

Pirates lurking among the bookshelves, Oriental gentlemen serenading you as you browse — what on earth is going on?

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Food

Hooked on puppy pub

1:21pm Wednesday 22nd May 2013

Every Thursday I tip my puppy Barnaby into my ancient Mini, secure him into his special seat belt and head off to a dog-friendly pub and walk in the Cotswolds.

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Outdoors

Buzz word is bees for all gardens

1:17pm Wednesday 22nd May 2013

I don’t need Friends of the Earth, whose efforts at protecting bees I commend to all, to tell me that bees are in decline. A video taken in my old garden at Hook Norton in 1996 is proof enough. Some 12 years after it was taken I watched for the first time in disbelief. Above the flowers there was a constant flow of movement as bees, hoverflies and other invertebrates moved through the garden like a spinning thread. I’m afraid I rarely see that 17 years on, despite the fact my garden at Spring Cottage is full of bee-friendly flowers. It is very depressing. I’ve been into bee watching since the early 1980s, when I tracked red-tailed bumble bees in Northamptonshire, to help bee research. I remember being unsure whether they were red-tails (Bombus lapidarius) or not because the bees were so small. Eventually I had to send one off to Cambridge University for confirmation. I learnt not to go on size, but markings. A red tail has a black body and a red tail, but when a colony is young the first bees out are very small. I got very excited when I had a nest under my study window recently, although most nests are only used for one year. Every year the lawn is covered with little grey pyramids of soil, set round neat holes and these are made by hundreds of Ashy mining bees (Andrena cineraria) active in late Spring. I find I cannot weed out the blue muscari bulbs which pop up announced as much as I would like to, because these mining bees forage on them all the time. We have the Tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva) in another area, although there are far fewer. Bee flies predate the mining bees by dropping their eggs from the air in Dambuster style. We think we also have the predatory Cuckoo bee Nomada lathburiana, though at first we thought it was digger wasp. The bee flies flock to the primroses with their permanently straight proboscis jutting out. We allow everything free rein, all part of being green for you can’t discriminate between predator and pest, or divide saint from sinner. Eventually they balance themselves out. The chief causes of decline are loss of habitat, particularly our flower-rich meadows. Many were ploughed up in the Second World War, but it’s still happening today. Too many fields offer a monoculture useless for wildlife. Pesticides and herbicides have reduced wild flowers on the verges and headlands and verge mowing and car exhausts have both added too much nitrogen, encouraging coarser plants.
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Art & Exhibitions

Artweeks' eclectic mix of art is worth travelling for

4:37pm Thursday 16th May 2013

The phenomenal three weeks that comprise Oxfordshire’s Artweeks finishes with a final triumphant flourish of creativity in North Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. Here as everywhere else in the county there is a huge range of work on show, all created by committed artists: some professional, some talented amateurs, and others, college or school students and community groups who are showing what they can do.

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Books

When Wantage had a railway link

11:53am Wednesday 15th May 2013

Wantage Road railway station was once a busy stop on the mainline from London to the West Country.

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Columns

"It's all a bit mad . . . but I like it!"

2:12pm Tuesday 21st May 2013

“Curiouser and curiouser!” I think as I walk around what used to be the blacked out door to the Cricketers Arms on Iffley Road. I am looking for a way into the new gin joint that has taken its place.

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Cinema: Now showing

The Hangover Part III

Alan suffers a mental breakdown in the aftermath of his father's death, and Phil, Stu and Doug offer support.
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Fast & Furious 6

Tenacious federal agent Luke Hobbs tracks down fugitives Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner and offers to expunge the racers' criminal records in exchange for bringing down British criminal mastermind Owen Shaw.
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The Great Gatsby

Stockbroker Nick Carraway is drawn into the glamorous world of millionaire war hero Jay Gatsby, who throws the most lavish parties in swinging 1920s New York.
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Epic

While attempting to rebuild bridges with her madcap father, 17-year-old Mary Katherine aka MK is magically shrunk and stumbles into the kingdom of the Leaf Men - tiny, brave warriors who protect the forest under the guiding light of Queen Tara.
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Star Trek Into Darkness

Starfleet is rocked by a terrorist attack in London masterminded by the mysterious John Harrison.
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Iron Man 3

Billionaire industrialist Tony Stark is used to hogging the headlines for his showy antics but he finds himself in the spotlight when diabolical foe The Mandarin destroys personal relationships and nudges the inventor to the brink of self-annihilation.
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All Stars

Youngsters Ethan and Jaden, who attend a youth club called The Garage, vow to save the building from the bulldozers by organising a talent show.
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I'm So Excited! (Los Amantes Pasajeros)

A Peninsula Airlines flight to Mexico develops mechanical failure, seemingly condemning passengers and crew to a grim fate.
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My Neighbour Totoro

Mei explores her new home and stumbles into a magical briar patch, where she befriends a rabbit-like spirit, which she christens Totoro.
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Mud

Teenager Ellis and his best friend Neckbone live on the river with their parents.
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The Croods

Grug Crood is a caveman, who has taught his family to be afraid of the dark and new experiences.
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The Place Beyond The Pines

Stunt show motorcyclist Luke Glanton learns that he has fathered a son by one former conquest.
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Rockshow: Paul McCartney And Wings

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The Gatekeepers

Documentary about Israel's security agency, Shin Bet, revisiting the group's triumphs and devastating failures through the eyes of its six surviving directors: Avraham Shalom, Yaakov Peri, Carmi Gillon, Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter and Yuval Diskin.
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The Princess Bride

Spoof swashbuckler in which a lowly servant called Wesley struggles to save a beautiful maiden called Buttercup from the forces of darkness and the razor-sharp teeth of the Rats Of Unusual Size.
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Promised Land

Steve Butler persuades cash-strapped communities to sign leases to his energy company for the right to drill for natural gas.
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Timmy Time

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Promised Land (Parent And Baby Screening)

Steve Butler persuades cash-strapped communities to sign leases to his energy company for the right to drill for natural gas.
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Lincoln

Two months have passed since Abraham Lincoln's re-election, the American Civil War rages on for a fourth year and the president's thoughts turn to the highly contentious slavery bill.
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Bonnie And Clyde

Two lovers blaze a trail across America with the authorities in hot pursuit.
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Arbitrage

Multi-billionaire Robert Miller is involved in a car accident and kills his mistress Julie.
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Eight And A Half

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Epic (Autism Friendly Screening)

While attempting to rebuild bridges with her madcap father, 17-year-old Mary Katherine aka MK is magically shrunk and stumbles into the kingdom of the Leaf Men - tiny, brave warriors who protect the forest under the guiding light of Queen Tara.
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Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Hallucinogenic road movie about a drug-fuelled odyssey across the American Midwest, inspired by Hunter S Thompson's book of the same name.
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Finding Nemo

When his only son Nemo is plucked from sea and rehoused in a fish tank in a dentist's waiting room, a courageous clownfish called Marlin embarks on an epic adventure to bring the youngster back home.
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Lad: A Yorkshire Story

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NT Live Encore Screening: This House

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Olympus Has Fallen

Terrorists storm the White House, taking US President Benjamin Asher hostage.
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Shell

A 17-year-old called Shell and her emotionally crippled mechanic father, Pete, eke out a meagre living in a run-down petrol station.
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Theorem

A mysterious figure called The Visitor arrives at the Milanese home of Paolo and Lucia and their two children, Odetta and Pietro.
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