American reality TV star Olivia Palermo, left, and politician Oliver Letwin. Both have popular first names Photograph: Rex Features and David Levene Oliver and Olivia remained the most popular baby names in England and Wales through 2010.
The latest figures on baby names across England and Wales, published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed little change at the top, with Oliver, Jack and Harry unchanged as the top three boys' names.
Erykah Badu defends R Kelly during a concert in Chicago, 19 January 2019.R Kelly This article is more than 5 years oldErykah Badu defends R Kelly: 'I love you. Unconditionally'This article is more than 5 years oldThe musician says she’s ‘putting up a prayer right now’ for the R&B singer following a TV documentary that repeated allegations against him
Erykah Badu has defended R Kelly after a TV documentary series reiterated multiple allegations of sexual abuse against the R&B singer.
Pop and rockObituaryEsteban 'Steve' Jordan obituaryHailed as 'the Hendrix of the accordion''You probably have never heard of accordionist Esteban 'Steve' Jordan," the Texas journalist David Bennett wrote in his introduction to a 1988 album of the musician's work. For the Anglo audience he was addressing, it was a fair comment, but to anyone in Hispanic south Texas it would have been a joke. Jordan, who has died aged 71, was a leading figure in Tex-Mex conjunto music, his records on jukeboxes from Florida to California, a Chicano superstar.
What is the fear of Friday the 13th called? Paraskevidekatriaphobia Triskaidekaphobia Tropophobia Phengophobia Who directed the classic 1980 horror film Friday the 13th? Sean S Cunningham Gun Jönsson Martin Scorsese Francis Ford Coppola Which politician was known to put off travelling by air or road on Friday the 13th?
Other livesCzech RepublicObituaryHeda Margolius Kovály obituaryMy mother, Heda Margolius Kovály, who has died aged 91, was a fighter who sought justice and truth all her life. She was born Heda Bloch, into a Jewish family in Prague, and had a carefree life in Czechoslovakia until the German occupation in 1939. Two years later, she and her husband, Rudolf Margolius, together with her parents, were transported to the Lodz ghetto in Poland.
Blood, sweat and tearsHealthcare NetworkI've seen terrible things as a paramedic. The worst isn't what you'd expectTaking an elderly man to hospital while knowing his wife would probably never see him again is the job I’ve most agonised over
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen? Ask any paramedic and they will have been asked this question many times over in their careers. I’d never given myself time to properly think about the answer, until recently.
OpinionMali This article is more than 11 years oldMali's conflict and a 'war over skin colour'This article is more than 11 years oldAfua HirschMany Tuaregs have fled Mali after a split along colour lines. But will the factions unite against an Islamic state?I don't know one word of Tamasheq, the ancient Berber language spoken by Tuaregs, tens of thousands of whom are currently living as refugees in northern Burkina Faso. But one thing I could understand from the group of Tuareg men I sat with under a tent in Mentao – an inhospitable refugee camp a few hundred kilometres from the border with Mali – was the repeated gesture as they pointed to their skin.
PrinceThe Purple One’s discography rarely dipped below sublime sex-funk. We rank all 37 LPs from his polymathic 80s masterwork Sign O’ The Times to 2003’s saxophone-heavy N.E.W.S.
1 Sign O’ the Times 1987 ★★★★★
Prince the polymath in full and frightening effect, across funk, rock and genres yet to be given names. A double album with scarcely a sub-phenomenal moment.
2 Parade 1986 ★★★★★
The sound of Prince at his most effortless and assured.
‘I grew up thinking I was a bad person because I was compared to Freddy Krueger’ … Tulsi Vagjiani at Bare Brew Cafe in Wanstead, east London. Photograph: Olivia Harris/The GuardianAfter a tragedy that killed her father, mother and brother, and left her severely scarred, she endured years of taunts and rejection. Now she is fighting for all those with facial disfigurements
by Emine SanerTulsi Vagjiani was 10 years old and had been in hospital for several weeks when her bandages finally came off and she asked the nurses to show her what she looked like.
Two Door Cinema Club, from left, Kevin Baird, Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday. Photograph: Mark Duggan/The GuardianTwo Door Cinema Club, from left, Kevin Baird, Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday. Photograph: Mark Duggan/The GuardianTwo Door Cinema ClubInterviewTwo Door Cinema Club’s Alex Trimble: ‘I wasn’t prepared to go back into hell’ Mark BeaumontAfter six years on the road, the Irish indie band couldn’t stand to be in the same room. But thanks to DIY and yoga, they’re back – and warming up for a tour disguised as their own tribute actAs cover bands go, Tudor Cinema Club are pretty convincing.