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A LIFE LESS ORDINARY
"In 1982 I was aboard the Sir Galahad when it was destroyed at Bluff Cove in the Falklands Islands. I suffered 46% burns to my body and went on to have numerous operations. However, I was one of the lucky ones. I survived." Much more than survive, 70 surgical procedures later, Simon Weston CBE has gone on to do remarkable amounts with, and for, charities. From a proudly working-class Welsh town, he's also used his experiences to build up a huge rep for public speaking. The awe-instilling Welsh Guardsmen recounts his struggles and successes to motivate and encourage those, who like him, have got waves still to make in this phenomenon which is life. Simon's at The Bramall on January 26. Tickets
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MOVIE PICK: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
It’s that time of year again — and one of the more welcome festive happenings is the annual wheeling-out of this particular classic. Does it deserve its perennial status? You betcha – people returning to It’s A Wonderful Life after a few years are regularly taken aback at how hard-edged and cruel it is, with the closing scene’s flight of emotion lasting seconds and still somehow providing absolute catharsis. You know what it’s about, you know who’s in it — this is your chance to see it on the big screen, without distraction and with a hushed audience, which will drive home the feels even more. And everybody needs to top up their Jimmy Stewart impression, right? Times & trailer
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Venue: Peels, Hampton Manor, Hampton-In-Arden, B92 0EN; website
Choice: Wagyu beef brisket (£60, part of tasting) Chooser: James Hill
It takes a minimum of five days to prepare the wagyu beef brisket — three days of brining, followed by a barbecue charring, two days in a 60°C bath, a crucial caramelising moment in a pan, then the Suffolk reared, marbley goodness is brushed with soy butter. That's at least 120 hours of nurture for one element, of one dish. Peels received a Michelin star this year, and it's really rather easy to see why. From the kitchen's clever beetroot and goat's cheese beginnings to the moment we drank the sauce accompanying the mallard main direct from the jug, this is a menu of hits, with no patience for misses. And despite its location at the end of a winding drive behind a classical facade, drinking sauce from a jug is entirely acceptable — encouraged in fact. For this is not a manor house of yesteryear but a beautiful boutique hotel fifteen minutes on the train from Brum, with a young husband-wife team surely in some way endorsed by Duracell, working continually to ensure that Hampton Manor — and its dining room — is synonymous with a good time in real life, as well as on paper in a guide. Menus
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TOP SHOPPING
Getting more than you paid for. It's a pretty difficult to argue with kinda deal. And if you've got £40 to part with over the next few weekends, TOPSHOP and TOPMAN's Bullring behemoth's got kickbacks including illustrations, beauty treatments, denim tattooing and barbershop services that are yours for the comp'ing. This weekend, receive personalised piccies on your shopping, on card — or in bauble form — all penned by the rudely talented Miss Magpie. Next weekend's about getting Chrimbo party ready, with express manicures or lip applications for the top shoppers, and Kings Heath's Black Market Barber trims for the top men. Details/T&C: TOPMAN; TOPSHOP
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FRIDGE IN NAKED MAN ATTACK SHOCKER!
For all those occasions when opening the fridge door seems like too much bother, Roger Hiorn's latest exhibition — which launched at Ikon last night — has a solution. Centring around the transformation of materials and found objects, this actually isn't a functional fridge you can purchase. And we really want to put our hand in it too. From the Brummie who plans to bury a Boeing 737, on pre-ordained afternoons throughout the exhibition, art will be made flesh, with a naked man moving through the second floor gallery. Continues until March 5. More
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ARTY ELEPHANTS AND BIG IDEAS
We ain't never seen an elephant fly. But we've seen one float. An exhibition by newly-formed artist collective Bermuda, Alcoholism 1965 begins an ongoing project which transposes themes and graphic elements of 1960s and 70s Pelican Books onto the landscape of contemporary Brum. In case you've mislaid your collection, Pelican deals in short texts that aim to capture social systems of the moment, and were integral in bringing mid-20th century knowledge and ideas to the masses. Taking its inspiration from the Pelican title of the same year and name, the centre piece of the new exhibition is the pink elephant made famous by the front cover — transformed into a giant raft — which recently took its maiden voyage on the Grand Union canal (pictured). The waterway is a significant location, as it's along these canals that the collective has observed many alcoholics seeking refuge from society. At Birmingham School of Art until December 20, the ideas within the exhibition are explored further, through various works including a book and a series of limited-edition prints and postcards. More
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