The QT

Sunday 13 October 2024
13/10/2024

28 February 2024

Boxing Clever – Sunderland ‘Til I Die

In the Summer of 2017 Ellis Short, chairman of newly relegated Sunderland football club, agreed to allow production company Fulwell 73 (named in homage to the club via the road next to its former Roker Park ground) extensive behind the scenes access to the team’s push for promotion straight back into the Premier League. Short …

Creating a culture of transformation

Easily the most enthusiastic speaker at the launch of Creative Central NCL, Newcastle’s new creative zone, was Jodie Robertson, not an artist or even employed in the cultural sector. It wasn’t that there was a lack of enthusiasm in the room (Alphabetti Theatre, as so often, was buzzing). But Jodie, client services manager at the …

In high spirits

At a top secret location whisky maturing in 7,000 wooden casks which once contained sherry performs its magic, extracting flavours from the oak. At today’s prices the amber liquor is worth £100m as the world goes mad for a whisky increasingly supplied by a Cumbrian distillery. The decade-old story of The Lakes Distillery is the …

Pee’d, speed and freed

I should have known it was going to be one of those nights as the over-excited drugs dog carefully cocked his left leg over my pristine satchel and emptied that day’s water bowl without pausing for breath. The cops were creasing themselves as I searched for my emergency packet of Handy Andies before frantically seeking …

Eyes and ears

GIGAFACTORY TALKS: Administrators EY said they have held discussions with other potential buyers of the gigafactory site in Cambois, Northumberland, where Britishvolt planned to build. The nearly £4 billion plant had been promised around £100 million of Government grants if it could reach certain milestones, but it collapsed at the start of last year. After …

Looking for the perfect match

Bizarrely, given his impressive background as a proven business leader and in-demand commercial consultant, Geoff Thompson readily admits that he didn’t fully crunch the numbers prior to the greatest challenge of his career.  When the former CEO of Utilitywise, the now defunct North East-based energy company, chose to save South Shields FC from extinction in …

Swift success for Beth

Success for a writer rarely arrives like an inter-city express. More often, if it arrives at all, it’s had a clunky journey beset by unscheduled stoppages, the literary equivalent of sheep on the line. The metaphor is appropriate for one who grew up in a former station master’s house beside the memory of a railway …

Are universities in trouble?

October 1963. The Beatles have been at number one for six weeks with She Loves You. Meanwhile, in 10 Downing Street, a report of huge significance lands on the desk of the new Conservative prime minister, Alec Douglas-Home — the Robbins Report on the future of higher education.  At a time when only 5% of …

Spring event has a compelling story to tell

Politics is writ large at this year’s Hexham Book Festival as the popular literary event returns to its springtime slot for 2024. A busy 10 days will see 55 events taking place across the Northumberland market town, including in conversation gatherings, film screenings, writing workshops and book group events. The Queen’s Hall Arts Centre and …

Screen talent takes centre stage

The North East’s burgeoning film and television industry was out in force at the weekend to toast its successes. More than 400 people packed into the Hilton in Gateshead to enjoy an evening of celebrating achievements on screens of all sizes, compered by comedian, writer and director, Jason Cook. And while much of the current …

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