Spandexcellent

Maybe you've always thought you want to trade in the early 6a.m. commutes, for knee pads and glittery pants while you walk out to thousands with only the greatest hits of mullet rock to accompany you. If so where better to find out more, than a discussion about the performance behind your hidden desire? It's taking place in the Clephan Building at De Montfort University at 4p.m. on Friday, 3rd March. You can book tickets here.

DMU will be welcoming Carrie Dunn, Broderick Chow, Ben Litherland and Claire Warden for a discussion of how professional wrestling might be understood as a performance. Let's hope the chairs are nailed down and the tables stay in one piece.
  

 Photo by Ed Webster
*As you can see in the picture above, one man is attempting a flying sideways hug in the direction of one who we can only assume is his best friend. The man in the stripy t-shirt is what we call a 'cuddle invigilator' whose job is to make sure the cuddle contains enough love and warm feelings. and warm feelings. 


Jack Robbie

Coming shortly ...

It's that time of year again.

First-year Creative Writing students at De Montfort University are preparing to attend and review events at the annual Cultural Exchanges Festival. There's the usual mix of headline acts, less well-known but intriguing guests, and a few who may just be the big names of tomorrow.

There's a lot of interest in Claire Bloom and Carol Ann Duffy, and I expect some students will choose to review their talks. But I'm particularly looking forward to the poetry reading by Peter Hughes, whose Oystercatcher Press produces such lovely pamphlets, and, if I can get a ticket, to the memorial event for horror and fantasy writer Graham Joyce. (I'm a particular fan of his book on football.) I may also attend the talk on preserving sporting heritage in the hope that it includes photographs of old swimming pools and lidos.

But I must make my mind up and book before all the tickets go. So that's enough blogging for today.

Kathleen Bell

The voice of sport

As the DMU website rightly states, it's a privilege to have Hugh McIlvanney, the only sportswriter to be named Britain's Journalist of the Year, coming to speak during Cultural eXchanges week.

At 78, he is still writing for The Sunday Times and is widely renowned among his peers as the greatest sports journalist of all time. Famous for his reporting of the classic 'Rumble In The Jungle' between Muhammad Ali and George Forman in 1974, his touching tribute to his great friend George Best and his biography of Sir Alex Ferguson, he really is the king of sports journalism.

Hugh will be speaking to DMU's Dick Holt on his extraodinary career on Tuesday 28th February at 5.30pm and I would recommend any aspiring sports journalists or fans to attend. Tickets can be bought here.


Rob Howard