SoulHer raw, rasping voice made the Staple Singers a household name in the 50s and 60s and icons of the civil rights movement. She talks about the time she met David Bowie, her relationship with Bob Dylan and her love of Pharrell Williams’s Happy Sixty years ago, before rock’n’roll had ignited, a 16-year-old took the lead on a huge-selling hit. “Well, well, well, Lord,” she sang, “they tell me I got a home beyond the skies.

Notes and queriesMoviesWhy don't zombies eat each other? The flaws in Berlin's transport system; The adolescence of the lambsHow do zombies know not to eat each other? What would they do if there were no non-zombies left? Zombies know not to eat each other because they only eat living human flesh. Once infected and full zombification has taken place, the zombie is no longer alive, so its flesh is not palatable to other zombies.

Freddy McConnell with his son, Jack (not his real name). Photograph: Manuel Vázquez/The GuardianTransitioning meant that Freddy McConnell finally felt comfortable in his skin. Then he began a quest to conceive and carry his own child by Simon HattenstoneFreddy McConnell takes out his phone and shows me a film of his baby snoring contentedly. Jack is gorgeous, with blond hair, blue eyes and heavy eyelids, and McConnell is the classic doting dad – albeit more hands-on than most.

TheatreReviewCitizens, Glasgow The tale of four Belfast women during the Troubles becomes an unflinching study of the effects of male violence On the face of it, Bold Girls is not a violent play. In form, Rona Munro’s 1990 four-hander has the raucous girls-night-out shape of the kind of comedy perfected by Kay Mellor or Marie Jones. It looks as if it’s all about the bonds of female friendship as three working-class Belfast women, plus mysterious hanger on, go from front room to nightclub and back again, growing loose lipped as the drink kicks in.

FamilyJoseph Luzzi’s wife was killed two weeks before their baby was due. The little girl was saved after a C-section. A Dante scholar, the Divine Comedy helped him through his grief so he could be the father he wanted to be On a cold, wet November morning, Joe Luzzi stepped out of his house thinking he knew exactly where he was going: to the university, where he was a professor of Italian studies and had students to teach.

The 100 best footballers in the worldWomen's footballLeading coaches, former players and journalists from the women’s game are among the 112 judges for this year’s list Subscribe to our free women’s football newsletter It is time for our sixth edition of the best 100 female footballers in the world and here are the judges who took part in this year’s jury. Our panel includes some of the most respected and influential women and men within the game, including the NWSL championship-winning coach Juan Carlos Amorós, Champions League-winning coach Jonatan Giráldez, Serie A-winning coach Alessandra Spugna, USWNT interim head coach Twila Kilgore and many more.

Australian televisionInterview‘I didn’t know he was my dad’: Simon Baker shares his remarkable family storyBrigid DelaneyAfter years of invites, the Australian actor finally agreed to appear on Who Do You Think You Are?, revealing both painful memories and some incredible relatives Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email and listen to our podcast The makers of SBS’s family history show, Who Do You Think You Are?, don’t reveal the final cut of the show to participants, so Simon Baker is taking it on my word that his episode is an excellent and very moving piece of television.

The ObserverModelsInterviewJoAni Johnson: the sexagenarian model defying conventionAaron HicklinShe’s one of the faces of Rihanna’s recent Fenty campaign, but JoAni Johnson’s soaring modelling success only started when she was in her 60s… The Guardian’s product and service reviews are independent and are in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. We will earn a commission from the retailer if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.

History booksObituaryJonathan Riley-Smith obituaryScholar of the Crusades whose books promoted the public’s interest in his subjectFrom the start of the new century, the Crusades have gained more intense contemporary resonance than for many centuries past. Jonathan Riley-Smith, who has died aged 78, was the subject’s pre-eminent scholar, his research focusing on the beliefs that suddenly, at the end of the 11th century, prompted armies of westerners to attempt to conquer the Holy Land, and to pull off against apparently insurmountable odds what was seen as a miracle: a divine intervention in the affairs of the world comparable to the incarnation of Christ.

MoviesObituaryLassie Lou Ahern obituaryHollywood child actor who was one of the last surviving performers from the silent film eraLassie Lou Ahern, who has died aged 97, enjoyed a substantial career as a child actor in 1920s Hollywood, and was one of the last surviving performers from the silent film era. She made her debut aged three, in Hal Roach’s first full-length movie, an adaptation of The Call of the Wild (1923), and soon was regularly cast in Charley Chase comedies and as the object of rescue in the popular serials of Helen Holmes.