Lifestyle

Unfavourable opinion polls and learning Croc footwear is more popular than you — it’s been a difficult week for Tony Abbott.

Australian mezzo-soprano Lauren Easton sings as part of Glyndebourne Opera's 2012 Tour.

REVIEW | The voice of Tourism Australia’s 2012/13 campaign, Dewayne Everettsmith, releases his first single — “It’s Like Love”.

Ahead of her first UK stand-up show since 1999, Judith Lucy talks to GEORGE KATRALIS about her journey up through the ranks of Australian comedy, and what she would do with Ryan Gosling if she had the chance.

It’s at #ImaCelebrity and all over my nightly ITV2, but for this Australian viewer, the UK reality TV phenomenon I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here should be trending at #ImaBoredViewerGetMeAwayFromThisMonotony. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen bigger spiders in my bathroom.

On the opening weekend of the brand new multi-million dollar Perth Arena, INXS drummer Jon Farriss announced to a 15,000+ crowd that INXS would no longer be touring live.

TWEETS OF THE WEEK | Barack Obama's "four more years'' victory tweet has had 802,216 retweets and counting, a twittersphere record. However, some other tweeters aren't quite as happy. So unhappy in fact, they think they might have better luck in Australia.

Award-winning Australian musical The Hatpin makes its European debut in London, retelling the chilling true story of one mother’s desperate plight to retrieve her missing child.

There is nothing quite like that feeling of standing in an empty country field, staring up at a million stars set against a deep expanse of black. Help recreate that feeling with the winning images of the Royal Observatory’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.

Flight Facilities are a vibrant DJ duo already making waves in Australia, and now working their magic across the US and Europe in an action-packed tour. They chat with ALEX IVETT ahead of their London gig.

Can Australians tell a tale to top all others? Come find out at the London Storytelling Festival, where three Australians - comic and radio presenter Sarah Bennetto, screenwriter and comic Deborah Frances-White and comic storyteller Asher Treleaven — will entertain and engage with their funny fables.

This year Halloween is right in the middle of the week, which means you’ve got two weekends to celebrate it! If you haven’t had your fill of frights, here are this weekend’s eeriest events and activities around London.

Let’s light up the sky! Aussie’s love a display of pyrotechnics better than anyone, so this Guy Fawkes Day we’re sure to help show the locals how to celebrate in style. Here’s our picks for the best places in the east, south, west and central London to watch the fireworks...

Shakespeare for the masses: A madcap, playful romp through the classics with CW Productions & Straylight Australia’s double bill of Shakespeare’s Queens and The Madness of King Lear.

Two Australian photographers have earned commendation in this year’s Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Their images are amongst the one hundred that have made a competitive shortlist, and are currently captivating audiences at the Natural History Museum in Kensington, London.

It may be happening 16,000 km away, but that doesn’t mean Australians in foggy London can’t embrace the glitz, glamour and sunshine of the “race that stops a nation” — Melbourne Cup.

The fourth annual International Wimbledon Music Festival runs from 10 - 25 November, and offers a feast of world-class music making in the heart of South West London, with links to other music festivals in Australia, the US and Canada.

After getting stabbed on a London bus Australian Timba Smits took time out to recover and re-group, before setting up a community-based organisation to tackle youth disengagement and inspire upcoming artists, culminating in the Kaleidoscope International Creative Festival this November.

The Sapphires will be flying the flag for the Australian movie industry at the upcoming BFI London Film Festival.

Australian stand-up comedy duo Aamer Rahman and Nazeem Hussain had a hit on their hands at Edinburgh last year, with their show 'Fear of a Brown Planet'. Now they have just finished their first UK tour. We talk to Nazeem and Aamer about the show, Muslim identity and the recent...

Australian Times talks to Home and Away actor Robert Mammone about his role in the hit Aussie series Underbelly.

Australian Times reviews Outlands, the debut album by Deep Sea Arcade.

REVIEW | Aussie band San Cisco initiate their pursuit of the international crowd in London.

REVIEW | Tim Freedman in a “fireside chat” at London's Union Chapel.

Tame Impala release their new album Lonerism in the UK on 8 October 2012.

REVIEW | Sunday at the Apartment, 30 September 2012

Australian Clare Stewart reinvigorates BFI London Film Festival 2012 with an expansion of venues and a unique programme. With a number of Australian films on the bill, including The Sapphires and Wish You Were Here, get in quick to buy newly released tickets and support Aussie cinema.

REVIEW | Benedict Andrews directs his version of the classic Russian play, Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov, at the Young Vic.

Deep Sea Arcade embrace their inner wildchild at XOYO's Breakout East Night, Thursday 27 September

GEORGE KATRALIS in a “fireside chat” with Tim Freedman.

Glyndebourne, a name that evokes palpitations of awe and excitement in the breast of any opera singer, has chosen to showcase young Australian talent in its upcoming touring season across the UK.

REVIEW | Kimbra @ The Union Chapel, 19 September

At Tourism Australia’s 2012 marketing launch in London, GEORGE KATRALIS met Dewayne Everettsmith, singer and songwriter, and learnt all about his remarkable journey from Australian Idol to the voice of this year’s campaign.

CHRIS’S KITCHEN | Serving up the traditional British delicacy of Black Pudding this week is our Aussie man in the kitchen. Just don’t ask him what it’s made of….

REVIEW | Endless culture, socialising in the hippest bars, and keeping up with the latest trends from high street. These are just a handful of the many fragments creating the London ideal luring so many Australians across the globe. For some, however, the London dream is very far from reality....

Award winning comedian Matt Okine launches his first full-length stand-up on London audiences at the Soho Theatre. GARETH MOHEN experiences the roller-coaster of hilarious highs and poignant lows, and talks with the comedian about what inspired his insightful and intelligent show.

FilmFest Australia kicked off on the weekend with packed theatres in Clapham enjoying a smorgasbord of Australian independent film.

The ARIA-winning singer Dan Sultan has accused Australia of being a "fundamentally racist country" ahead of a series of protest concerts.

Whether it’s Barney from How I Met Your Mother shooting fireballs to get a girls number, or ‘Dynamo’ pulling a Jesus and walking across the Thames, magic is back!

Ronny Chieng once claimed that if he had his own Wikipedia page all his dreams would be fulfilled and he would stop working.

The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square is renowned as home to some of civilisations most iconic works of art, from van Gogh’s Sunflowers to da Vinci’s Virgin on the Rocks.

The arrival of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) on stage at London’s Cadogan Hall earlier this month may not have been directed by Danny Boyle or introduced by Stephen Hawking.

As an outsider moving to London, my head was filled with pseudo erotic tales of London’s famous hidden scenes.

We give you a rundown of some of the best films to go and see at FilmFest Australia.

It is time! The Aussie cinematic event of the year - FilmFest Australia — is here and the team behind the former London Australian Film Festival are ultra-excited to be bringing two unmissable weekends of Australian cinema to the capital.

FilmFest Australia has named Geoffrey Rush and Noah Taylor as Festival Patrons for 2012.

One of Australia’s most decorated directors — Fred Schepisi — will be celebrated at London’s FilmFest Australia this week. GUY LOGAN talks with the film doyen about his new film The Eye of the Storm, Aboriginal abuse, and his favourite London food haunts.

Renowned Australian author Bryce Courtenay has revealed his stomach cancer is terminal but says he's ready to die.

Punched on stage, banned by Christian groups and hated by ‘many’, Jim Jefferies is one Aussie comedian who is seriously turning heads. PAUL BLEAKLEY finds out how this ‘unknown bloke back home’ cracked America, how he keeps cracking up people around the world, and how he’s moved on from the...

They've been called "one of the most extraordinary groups on the planet”. A “sonic experience that has few parallels or rivals". The New York Times even proclaims them as "one of the greatest bands in the world".