Recently in arts Category

An exhibition celebrating the 60th anniversary of two iconic institutions has opened.

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, has teamed up with the BBC to bring visitors 'Everyday Stories of Country Folk: Celebrating 60 years of The Archers and MERL'.

I've found another cattle painter whose work I really like.

Bath-based Joanne Cope, already a respected portrait painter, is increasingly winning acclaim for her work featuring livestock.

I've mentioned before that I like the artist Thuline De Cock.

A regular resident of the Rare Breeds marquee at the Royal Cornwall Show is Plymouth artist Carol Payne.

Her work is often sold in support of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and this year she has worked feverishly to create a special work of art.

"I wanted to do something to celebrate the show's 50th year at Wadebridge and to publicise the work of the Trust, so when I heard that the Duke of Cornwall was coming to the show, I wrote to him and sent him a catalogue of my work.

"He is patron of the Trust and I suggested I paint something based on the rare breeds that he keeps that I could present to him at the show," she said.

When she got a call back from his office, no-one could have been more surprised than Carol.

"His office only phoned a week ago to say he loved my work and he'd be happy for me to do something for the occasion."

He suggested one of two breeds and I chose White Park cattle. Since then Carol has researched the subject and "worked flat out day and night" to create the painting of a cow in a field of buttercups.

The painting, an acrylic on canvas which measures 29 by 48 inches, will be presented during the Duke of Cornwall's tour of the show on Thursday.

I've been sent this photo by Derek Laverty. Stunning, isn't it. It reminded me of one of the shortlisted entries in last year's FW photography competition.

Field Day favourite, author and Farms for City Children Founder Michael Morpurgo is in the spotlight again today.

He's come up with a story for the 2012 Olympics about the games' mascots.

Set to be unveiled on Wednesday (19 May), the mascots are apparently two drops of steel from some of the steel girders that make up the Olympic Stadium.

According to Sebastian Coe, who's king of the Olympics, or something like that, the story tells of the steel droplets going on a journey.

"It is a journey between now and London," he said. "And they are fun - they are aimed particularly at children."

Apparently the first official Olympic mascot was Waldi, a striped dachshund who hung out at the 1972 Munich Games.

But this being Field Day - aka Cat Chat - I thought I'd share a picture of Hodori, the mascot of the 1988 Games in Seoul:

London's 2012 mascots will be unveiled on Wednesday's The One Show on BBC1 at 7pm.

The last time a film-starring farm went on sale the FW team used it as an excuse to spout our favourite Richard E Grant lines ("I demand some booze" and "Here, hare, here" were quoted for days).

Now we have a chance to practice our American accents with the news the farm from Field of Dreams has gone on the market.

For a mere £3.7m, fans of the Kevin Coster film can nab the 193-acre Iowa farm, complete with farmhouse and the baseball diamond that was cut into the cornfield.

As a free extra, the lucky buyer can also get the 65,000 tourists that visit the film location every year. Ray Liotta will cost extra.



If rumours are to believed, you might have to move quick to buy it though - Kevin Costner's supposedly interested in the farm. Maybe he wants to reprise his role and tell all those visitors: "This is my corn. You people are guests in my corn." 

Don't you just love TV ads.

Let's face it, they're better than a lot of the programmes - and the new T-mobile advert certainly made me smile.

It features Benjamin Browning, who is shown exercising his right (and presumably this is something he doesn't do very often) as a Freeman of the City of London and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Poulters to drive geese through the City.

"T-Mobile's agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, approached the Corporation of London for permission to film in the City, and for a Freeman to drive geese through the streets," says Benjamin. "The clerk to the Poulters knows that I am game for that sort of thing.

"I have had geese in the past, and driven them to get them from one place to another, rather than for a camera.

"The geese behaved very well for the two days of shooting - we kept an eye on them to ensure any that looked as though they were tiring were taken off the set and rested for the day."

Watch the advert on YouTube.

I tried not to get hooked and failed.

My one TV obsession at the moment is MasterChef. As someone who loves food - but is a rubbish chef - it's fascinating to watch.

Presenters John and Gregg have been in India for the episode that'll be aired on Monday April 5, with contestants cooking for a local dignitary in the city of Jodhpur.

If you know a fan of the show who's got a birthday coming up, they might like this book. And if you're feeling inspired to take to the kitchen, here are recipes from some of the previous series.

It seems a beautiful dress isn't enough to get you noticed if you're a celebrity these days. You need something unusual and altogether more striking - like, eeeer, a pig.

This was the accessory of choice for Emma Thompson at the world premiere of her new film, Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang, last night.

The sequel to the 2005 hit Nanny McPhee sees Thompson play a magical nanny who helps a mother struggling to run a farm and look after her kids while her husband is away during the Second World War.

The porker tried to lead the actress off in all directions as she arrived at the Odeon West End in Leicester Square in London. She kept on smiling before handing the animal over to its handler so she could join her human co-stars inside.

It refused to pose for the cameras and, apparently, became so startled by the flashbulbs and screams of fans that it relieved itself. Charming.

I love it when people surprise you. And this woman can certainly do that.

By day, Sophia Lolley is the manager of a 220 acre organic farm in Devon, with Dorset Horn sheep and Devon cattle. 

Field Day readers who can overlook the many shortcomings of squirrels might be interested in Axel Scheffler's new book, How to Keep a Pet Squirrel.

Quite why anyone would want to keep one is beyond me, but Alex - best known as the illustrator of The Gruffalo - was inspired to produce this book after reading tips on procuring and caring for a pet squirrel in The Children's Encyclopaedia of 1910.

This slim (it's 48 pages) hardback features his illustrations alongside the text. Publishers Faber & Faber describe it as "a charming and beguiling curiosity, packed full of wise advice".

In fact, I've just been flicking through Faber's catalogue of new books and, between some fascinating ones such as Lights Out in Wonderland by DBC Pierre and Human Chain by Seamus Heaney, I came across one with a rather less appealing title. The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman.

It's easy to forget that Jimmy Doherty was an insect buff before becoming a celebrity pig farmer (and there's not too many of them around).

Fans of the screen-friendly Essex boy will be interested to know he's on TV tonight at 8pm fronting the first of a new series, Museum of Life, which goes behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum.

I'm excited because a new book brings together two of my favourite things - writers and Somerset.

Literary Somerset by James Crowden is billed as an "intellectual road map of the county from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day" and features more than 350 authors associated with the area.

As well as its more famous residents - such as Wordsworth and Coleridge  - it features lesser-known ones including John Steinbeck who once lived near Bruton, and JRR Tolkein who honeymooned in Clevedon (Cheddar Gorge was the inspiration for Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings).

I heard about it because the author, James, was a guest on Radio 4's Excess Baggage with the huggably lovely Sandi Toksvig at the weekend.

He tells me he met Sandi at a book festival a while back - when he found himself sat between her and ex-political reporter and Strictly Come Dancing-favourite John Sergeant. "We didn't know about his dancing at that stage," says James.

This 272-pager, which retails at £18.95, includes everyone from philosophers, pirates and playwrights to eccentric clergymen, herbalists and historians.

As to what drew so many creative people to the county, James reckons it's its proximity to Bath and Bristol. "That and the cheap housing and cheap cider!"

Getting married and want £12k?

Well, there's only one condition - you'll need to feature in the new series of the BBC3 show, Don't Tell the Bride.

According to Renegade Pictures, who are casting for the couples, the programme has featured all sorts of weddings but never a farmer, so they're on the hunt for one.

The premise is simple: the groom gets given the £12,000 and three weeks to arrange the big day. He has to organise every detail - from the venue and the cake to the dress and the ring. And he's not allowed to see his bride-to-be until the day itself, so she has a terrifying wait to find out how he did.

"We would love to find a couple who wants to get married on a farm or perhaps arrive at the church on a tractor, says Renegade's Emma Parsons. "We want to find a wedding full of wellies."

It sounds like great TV. Personally, though, I think I'd rather watch it, than star in it. Especially when this sort of thing happens - it's a clip on YouTube from the show called Dress Mess.

If you fancy it, email Renegade Pictures.

There are some great animal pictures in the media today - cute polar bears in The Telegraph, killer chickens in The Mail and amorous kingfishers in The Times.

This is the newly unveiled poster for the film Bovine, which I was on location with last autumn.

Director Will McGregor and his team are now putting the final touches to the short movie, before launching it onto the festival circuit.

Bovine was even invited to feature at the Berlin Talent Campus (part of the city's film festival) earlier this month, which gave Will the chance to work with a top editor on the final edit.

Farmer's son Will, who wants to tell "original and compelling stories" hopes the film will stand as a work of art, plus raise awareness of the problem of TB in the countryside.

You can read the full article I wrote after spending a day with the Bovine team below.

It could end up being a sheep and a meerkat.

No, this isn't some weird recipe dreamed up by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (aka Hugh Fearlessly Eats It All) - it's two of the finalists at next month's British Animation Awards.

Shaun the Sheep and the smoking jacket-wearing critter off the comparethemarket.com ads have both been shortlisted.

Field Day favourite Shaun is in the running (or should that be the grazing) in the children's choice award, while the maker of aristocratic meerkat Aleksandr could net the best commercial director award at the event held at the British Film Institute.

Fans of Shaun can see more pictures here and here.

Remember the Morpeth bull?

Well if you liked him, you can now have one in your home. It's a smaller version, obviously - these measure 50 x 20 x 40cms and will set you back £2500 in resin or £6900 in bronze.

Sculptor Judy Boyt, who created the original work of art in a Wiltshire studio, has called this interpretation 'Bull and his Balls', a nod not just to the three spherical objects on the plinth, but also to one of the large version's most striking anatomical features...

Just had a call from my favourite dancer (OK, I only know one so he would be, but he's a smashing bloke) Alastair.

After appearing in the final of So You Think You Can Dance, the farmer's son rang to update me about his plans.

He reckons the show could be a great launchpad onto other careers and is keen to try either musical theatre, TV presenting or even acting.

"It's been the most incredible experience - I doubt anything will ever top this," he says.

He's staying in London at the moment, but points out one thing he definitely isn't doing at the moment is dancing. "Because I had to do lots of lifts, I've got lots of aches and pains absolutely everywhere."