WHAT’S ON

#WhatsOnPulse

John Illsley May 1 Join the former bass player with Dire Straits as he returns to The Stables at Wavendon – expect to hear material from his new album alongside some of those classic Straits songs. Money for nothing: stables.org

Les Miserables Until Saturday, May 21 Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production has been seen by more than 120 million people (and counting). Will you add to that number as the new staging continues its major run at MK Theatre? Bring tickets home: atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes

Coton Manor Gardens Tuesday - Saturday, 11.30am-5pm A beautiful 10 acre garden with a luxuriant border that will wow plant enthusiasts – and beyond the garden is a striking five acre bluebell wood and wildflower meadow. The Stable Yard Cafe will serve homemade lunches and teas when the garden, located near Guilsborough, is open. Petal power: cotonmanor.co.uk

Brian Downey’s Alive & Dangerous Thursday, May 5 As one of the founding members of Thin Lizzy, drummer Brian Downey sold more than 30 million records worldwide. Now hear those classic songs again; Waiting For An Alibi, Whiskey in the Jar, Killer on the Loose and Jailbreak among them. The Boys Are Back in Town: theroadmender.com

‘Claydon, Now You See It, Now You Don’t’ Thursday, May 5 Frank and Daphne Preece host this month’s talk by the Milton Keynes National Trust Association, at the Oak Tree Centre, Wallinger Drive, Shenley Brook End. Entry is £2 for members, £4 for non-members. Questions? sue-davedee@talktalk.net An evening with Steampunk fantasy author Paul Eccentric Thursday, May 5, 6pm Join Paul as he launches The Periwinkle Perspective Vol 2, ‘Those Among Us’ at Waterstones, Midsummer Place, plus a performance from The Antipoet Book up: Visit FB @mkwaterstones

The Picturedrome Comedy Club Thursday, May 5, 7pm (for 8pm start) Get the funnies with El Bandiniho, Eleanor Tiernan and MC Jon Pearson, before headliner John Fothergill takes over with cocky insults and slick banter. Heckle at your own risk: thepicturedrome.com

Typically Tina Friday, May 6, 8pm A joyfully accurate tribute to the lady with the unmistakable voice, and the best legs in the business, at Northampton’s Picturedrome. Simply the best: thepicturedrome.com

A chance to set sail: Northampton Sailing Club have an Open Day on Saturday, May 14

The Old Savoy Open Day and Wedding Fair Friday, May 6 – Saturday, May 7 (3-8pm Fri & 11am-4pm Sat) Includes a catwalk display of bridal and groom wear, and a variety of vendors. If you’ve got a wedding to plan and are seeking inspiration, this is for you. Entry is free. Going to the chapel: thedeco.co.uk

Delights & Baby Lung Friday, May 6, 7.30pm Manchester’s Delights are on the rise and rise, and being slated as ‘ones to watch,’ and fortunately you can catch them at The Black Prince thanks to the folks at SBD Promotions. Support comes from Northampton’s Baby Lung, and Mirror Image. Tune in: sbdpromotions.com

Watercolour Pigment Making Saturday, May 7, 10am Join Lisa-Marie Price at MK Gallery as she guides you through the paint making process from start to finish, giving tips and guidance on what to look out for when foraging for pigment. All your senses will be used during this workshop. Book for a colourful event: mkgallery.org

History Weekend at Milton Keynes Museum Saturday, May 7 - Sunday, May 8, 10.30am-4.30pm Get closer to history with visits from the Romans and the Vikings. The living history event also includes 12th century re-enactors, Roman traders, and a 1940s re-enactment group. Step back in time: miltonkeynesmuseum.org.uk

Buckingham Canal Society Sunday, May 8, 10am-3pm Help needed at the Nature Reserve site, no experience necessary and all tools provided (also on Thursday, May 12 and Thursday, May 26). For details: athina.beckett@buckinghamcanal.org.uk

Denton & District Gardening Club Monday, May 9, 7.30pm ‘Everything you need to know about composts!’ a talk by Geoff Hodge at Denton Village Hall, Vicarage Lane, Denton, NN7 1DT Digging deep: m.pateman@yahoo.co.uk

Guns 2 Roses Friday, May 13, 8pm The most notorious tribute to Slash, Axl and Duff that you’ll find – and during their history these imitators have played with four members of the real rock n’ roll aces! All the hits and all the attitude are promised. Appetite for Destruction: theroadmender.com

Northampton Sailing Club Open Day Saturday, May 14, 11am-4pm Northampton Sailing Club offers dinghy racing, casual sailing, windsurfing, paddleboarding, kayaking and wing-foiling for people of all ages. The open day is a chance to enjoy taster sessions, sailing demonstrations, boat displays and to find out more about all the activities on offer. Water-way to spend the day: northamptonsailingclub.org The Best of Broadway with The Northampton Male Voice Choir Saturday, May 14, 7.30pm Join the Choir at its annual concert, with songs from Guys and Dolls to West Side Story and We Will Rock You ready and waiting. NMVC will be raising money for charities including Prostate Cancer UK and Parkinson’s UK, so taking a seat at The Cripps Theatre at Northampton School for Boys will help do great things elsewhere. Sounds good: ticketsource.co.uk/cripps-hall

Flook Sunday, May 15, 8pm Join the quartet who take inspiration from their roots in the Irish and English traditions, as they weave and spin traditionally rooted tunes over precise acoustic grooves, with fiery technical brilliance. End the weekend on a high in Wavendon. Innovators: stables.org

Tony Hadley - 40th Anniversary Tour Wednesday, May 18 Join the former Spandau Ballet frontman as he celebrates four decades in the music business.Tony will deliver songs from across his career – as frontman with one of the biggest bands of the 80s and as a solo artist. Support comes from Tom Speight. Gold: royalandderngate.co.uk

The Music of Northern Soul Live Thursday, May 19 Step back to the sounds of the Twisted Wheel, Blackpool Mecca, Golden Torch and the Wigan Casino, with Lorraine Silver and Stefan Taylor & The Signatures. Dance, Dance, Dance: thecorecorby.com

Northamptonshire County Federation of WIs - World Bee Day Friday, May 20,10am-1pm Celebrate everything to do with bees, including bees themselves, bee-keeping demonstration, wildlife nursery plants to buy that attract pollinators, beeswax wraps to eat - and WI cakes using honey. All welcome, at WI House 71 Park View Moulton NN3 7UZ Buzzing: Contact 01604 646055 admin@ncfwi.org.uk

The Old Lawnmower Club Saturday, May 21 – Sunday, May 22, 10.30am-4.30pm Anyone with an interest in mowers will love this green event as the club hosts its annual rally at Milton Keynes Museum, with 100s of mowers on display, including some particularly rare examples. Short ‘cut’: miltonkeynesmuseum.org.uk Fuchsias and more 2022 Saturday, May 21, midday-5pm A huge selection of fuchsias and perennials for sale in Lathbury. Gardening advice, and craft and vintage stalls with a tea garden serving homemade cakes. Live music in the church and gardens to wander around. Entry and parking are free. Profits to Thames Valley Air Ambulance and the ancient church. Floral fabulousness: 01908 616804 or 07487 531251

The Sand Dragon Saturday, May 21, 2:30pm Theatrix Arts perform a magical story with songs, music, loads of puppets, changing scenery and a magic trick or two. Suitable for ages 4+ and families. Dragon delight: stantonburytheatre.co.uk

Camille O’Sullivan sings Cave Sunday, May 22, 8pm Join Irish/French singer Camille at The Stables in Wavendon as she explores the dark and light of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ music in her dangerous yet fragile theatrical style. Jubilee Street: stables.org

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Wednesday, May 25. 7.30pm A night of adventure and escapism with a brand-new collection of short films with the planet’s best adventure film-makers and explorers on groundbreaking expeditions in the most remote corners of the globe. Guaranteed to ignite your passion for adventure, action and travel. The highest peaks: royalandderngate.co.uk

Celebrate World Bee Day at Moulton on Friday, May 20

Steve Harley plays The Core, Corby on Saturday, May 28

Mapdance 2022 Thursday, May 26 University of Chichester’s performance company comes to The Venue MK with three newly commissioned dance works. Dynamic, theatrical and beautifully crafted. Get tickets by emailing schools@motusdance.co.uk

Steve Harley Acoustic Band Saturday, May 28 The original cockney rebel visits The Core at Corby with a stripped back set of excellence – and he’s had 45 years of practice at this stuff; expect an ace performance. He’ll make you smile: thecorecorby.com Aspley Guise Open Gardens Sunday, May 29, Midday -5pm Enjoy a gorgeous selection of open gardens, also homemade cakes and light refreshments served in the Village Hall. Tickets £5 in the Village Square from 11.30am. Bloomin’ brilliant: opengardens.co.uk

Cluedo Monday, May 30 – Saturday, June 4 Based on the classic detective board game, and the 1985 film CLUE, this brand new play promises a nostalgic, fun and thrilling evening at MK Theatre. Michelle Collins stars. Could it be Professor Plum? Atgtickets.com/miltonkeynes

Flore Charity Dog Show Sunday, May 29, 11am-3pm Classes include Prettiest Pooch, Best Rescue, Best Puppy and Best Hair Day. Pop along and support Animals in Need at Brodie Lodge Playing Field, Spring Lane, Flore (NN7 4LS). Bark to find out more: 01933 278080 Mark Thomas May 31 Mark is back on the stage with the new show, 50 Things About Us, which he says is a ‘a show about money, history, songs, gongs, wigs, unicorns, guns, bungs, sods of soil and rich’ sorts, although he might have used a stronger word... Making his Mark: stables.org

Calling All Artists - Would you like to exhibit & sell your work? ART EXHIBITION AND SALE

WOOTTON MEMORIAL HALL, HIGH STREET, WOOTTON Saturday 11th to Sunday 12th June

For further information and an entry form call 01604 767438 or 07901 916071 CLOSING DATE: 6TH JUNE 2019

Cynthia Spencer Hospice Northampton Colour Run Saturday June 11, 10am

Back at its usual venue of Overstone Park, it’s a bit of a crosscountry route which just adds to the fun! Join in with your friends and family, colleagues and chums and join in the messy fun, all in the name of raising money to support your local hospice. Run, walk or skip for #HospiceCare. To register click: www.cynthiaspencer.org.uk/ northamptoncolourrun or call on 01604 973340

Cycle4Cynthia 2022 Sunday September 25, 2022 Registration is open now for Cycle4Cynthia 2022! Get on your bikes at the Althorp Estate for the usual 50 mile, 25 mile and 5 mile routes and a brand new 10 mile route for 2022! Every Pound you raise by taking part goes towards caring for our patients and supporting their loved ones and families too. To register click: www.cynthiaspencer.org.uk/event/ C4C2022 or call on 01604 973340

Film Reviews by Jordan Adcock

OPERATION MINCEMEAT

FILM OF THE MONTH - Star Rating: 3/5

Operation Mincemeat, where the dead body of Glyndwr Michael was used to smuggle fake documents to mislead Nazi Germany, is perhaps the most extraordinary act of deception in the history of warfare. However, this film manages to make the extraordinary, well, more ordinary, if still well-acted and directed on its own more modest terms. Colin Firth dependably plays Ewen Montagu, the naval intelligence officer increasingly distant from his wife and who settles into creating “William Martin” with Jean Leslie (Kelly Macdonald) who provides the photo of “Martin’s lover”. Matthew Macfadyen is perhaps the strongest of the cast in playing the uptight, unlucky-in-love RAF officer Charles Cholmondeley who helps refine the “Trojan Horse” plan originally thought up partly by Ian Fleming of all people (it’s a shame Johnny Flynn’s suave portrayal of Fleming is absent from the film for long stretches).

There’s a stuffy admiral (played by Jason Isaacs of course), Winston Churchill, gloomy wartime London interiors, a brief battle scene: This war film has it all, apart from really exploring the story’s most unique, fascinating aspect. I really recommend reading Ben Macintyre’s account of the deception, on which this film was based. It captures how odd the story was, including the full cast of characters and their nuances plus the surrealism of constructing a man that never was. Who was Glyndwr Michael? He lived a sadly curtailed, unremarkable life but you won’t get much impression from the film of that or the quandary of erasing his identity, which apart from one very disposable scene otherwise treats the hunt for a body as a tame comedic montage. ✪

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 THE NAN MOVIE FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE

Star Rating: 2.5/5 Star Rating: 2/5 Star Rating: 2/5

The first Sonic film from 2020 was most famous for hastily redesigning its CGI version of the iconic video game character to look much more accurate and appealing. If only its sequel had greater finesse but it’s more sluggish than sonic. It not only brings back Jim Carrey as the wacky evil scientist Robotnik, hurling out one-liners no matter how silly, or introducing more game characters in the red echidna Knuckles and the plucky Tails as a sidekick for Sonic, it weighs itself down with dragged-out filler sequences. They include a Siberian dance-off and a crashed Hawaiian wedding and like most of the film are distracting enough, though it’s hard not to notice the obligatory human supporting actors trying in vain to be as animated as their digital counterparts. ✪ Leaving it late doesn’t quite cover comedian Catherine Tate bringing her cantankerous Nan character to the big screen, over 15 years after the comedian’s sketch show ended. And while Nan certainly delivers the swears and insults she’s known (and loved?) for, the obligation to provide a filmic narrative where she and grandson Jamie (Matthew Horne) travel to see her dying sister means lots of more drama-based flashbacks to World War II. Basically, anyone hoping to relive the show’s comedic heights will be disappointed. Ah well, at least there’s still some decent exchanges between Nan and Jamie while on the road to Northern Ireland, where the film most resembles the original show’s dynamics. Diversions involving an animal rights extremist and garish collage animation to shift the plot along are less welcome. ✪ Think Extraneous Beasts more than Fantastic. These Harry Potter prequel films, despite their main title, aren’t really about Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) protecting magical beasts, and they definitely aren’t as magical as the boy wizard’s story. That The Secrets of Dumbledore improves over the last film, the baffling and infuriating Crimes of Grindelwald, isn’t high praise. It has a good main cast, especially Jude Law as young Dumbledore; Mads Mikkelsen is a decent replacement for scandal-hit Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, the would-be wizard dictator who shares a secret bond with Dumbledore. But they’re all left wandering from place to place, casting lots of magic spells but without any meaningful journeys or arcs happening. There’s only the promise of an overarching story that’s barely even started three films in. ✪

MORBIUS

Star Rating: 1/5

Jared Leto tries playing a tortured soul in Morbius but only audiences will be tortured by this abysmal comic book adaptation. The film’s a product of Sony Pictures racing to adapt all the Marvel comics characters they’ve got the rights for (apart from Spider-Man). In fairness, Leto is working with a rubbish script as Doctor Morbius, who experiments with vampire bat blood to cure his crippling ailments. The CGI-heavy results are cringeworthy and not helped by the actor’s laughably poor attempts at charisma and gravitas. Throw in Matt Smith trying to outdo him for sheer awkwardness and the result is trashy, even strangely watchable like a train wreck can be watchable: a “morbid” curiosity, perhaps? ✪