Features - Page 184

At the beginning of April, a man started to walk around his garden. He had hoped to raise £1,000 for the NHS, a small thanks, he said, for their work in treating him across a lifetime. By the end of April, the man, Captain Thomas Moore had raised over £30 million, achieved a hit number one single, and had joined the elusive ranks that made him a national treasure.

Of all the people to be optimistic in the face of a global pandemic, the co-creator of Black Mirror would be low down on the list. Yet Charlie Brooker remains in uncharacteristically high spirits amid the outbreak of Covid-19.

The sale of two urns in 2009 has become part of a Supreme Court ruling that could see historic items freely sold across the country.

Online shopping has changed somewhat during the pandemic. No longer reserved for the purchase of books, clothes, and groceries, it is now possible to virtually purchase a Lichtenstein or Picasso, should the inclination strike you.

In 2014, the singles chart calculations changed. Originally intended to reflect the week’s most successful performer based on sales of CDs and even Radio performances, the decision was made to allocate due recognition to streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes.

Entering a raffle, the more conventional prizes one might win include boxes of chocolates, questionably elaborate bath bombs, or perhaps a bottle of bubbly. Claudia Borgogno won a Picasso.

At the beginning of the year, the closure of 70 per cent of the UK’s performing arts companies seemed overly dramatic. Yet now, nine weeks into a country wide lockdown, this is an entirely possible eventuality.

Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak masks were reserved for superheroes and the cast of Phantom of the Opera. Now, as much an object of health and safety as an item of fashion, Frieze London and the Contemporary Art Society have come together to commission artists to design four different masks.

When Austrian bass Günther Groissböck, stepped onto the stage to perform at the State Theatre of Hesse on Monday he was greeted with an audience of fewer than 200 people. Normally able to house over 1,000 audience members, Groissböck confesses he was left thinking “Is it because we’re no good?”.

As chairman of the National Museum Directors’ Council, Sir Ian Blatchford is accustomed to watching history unfold. His position, complemented by his role as the chief executive of the Science Museum Group, sees him well placed to comment on the future of museums once things return to a position of relative normality.

Earlier this year, the National Trust had hoped to welcome their six millionth member. Now, amid the pandemic, membership cancellation is four times its usual rate.

Fanny Pereire has spent over a decade in the film industry. Her work has feature on Ocean’s 8, Succession and Mrs America. Her role – to create art collections for the people who populate these imaginary worlds.

Charlie Brooker is well suited to the pandemic. After all, he has spent the past decade or so producing the immensely successful dystopian series, Black Mirror. Yet it is his satirical show Wipe which has caught the attention of the public amid Covid-19.