News

The Getty Trust, established by oil tycoon John Paul Getty, has announced the fund to save ancient culture from war, climate change and ageing. The fund will sponsor earthquake strengthening works for scultpures, emergency conservation training for specialists, and digital mapping of archaeological sits at Pompeii and Catalhoyuk, central Turkey.

A Historic England fund established to "breathe new life into historic buildings" will be shared between 69 high streets across the country. Wigan has successfully bid for money to restore its Royal Court Theatre, and up to £1.3m is expected to go towards repairing the historic buildings in Leeds. Final grants will be confirmed in January.

Daiana Andreas Rivera, 33, was attempting to return to Madrid when she drunkenly kicked a police officer in the groin at London's Heathrow Airport. A prosecutor said Rivera had lost her passport and was late to catch her flight when the kicking happened.

Artist Richard Demarco says politicians need to afford the artform greater importance in public life. "Scottish sculpture has been under-celebrated even though the country has been home to some highly important sculptors," Demarco said.

London's Hackney Council has already distributed thousands of pounds to support an arts exhibition, dance theatre group, pottery workshops, a creative teacher training scheme and local venue Hoxton Hall. The Shoreditch and Hoxton Arts Fund comes from Section 106 contributions, which are paid by developers whose projects will have significant impacts on an area.

In 1947 the National Gallery and the Courtauld Institute of Art arranged for German art restorer Professor Kurt Wehlte to come to London to share his expertise with the institutions. Morwenna Blewett, a research fellow at the Ashmolean Museum and Worcester College, University of Oxford, said that Wehlte operated “at the heart of the Nazi cultural and criminal elite” and that his links to the Third Reich would have been known by British and US authorities.