‘Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae shares honest feedback about his character’s fate
Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae, who played the role of Seong Gi-hun as player 456, has opened up about alternative endings of his character.
In a recent interview with Variety, the Korean actor candidly shared his initial reaction upon learning player 456’s fate.
Revealing he was aware about his character’s ending since season 2, he said, “I read everything the day that I got (script). That’s when I learned about my character’s fate and the ending. I was very shocked too, because it was not something I had expected to see.”
In the last episode of season 3, Seong gi-hun, the survivor of season 1 and 2, sacrificed his life to save the baby of player 222, played by Jo Yu-ri, in the deathly game, sky squid game.
Recalling a conversation with a director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, discussed alternative endings, “I remember speaking a lot about this ending with Director Hwang, and I asked him, “Did you have different endings in mind? Were there different versions?” And he told me that he did think of other endings.”
However, The Housemaid actor shared that the director believed this was the ‘right ending’ of Squid Game.
Before concluding, Lee Jung-jae, told the outlet, “He also shared with me that I shouldn’t look at Gi-hun’s sacrifice as just simply a sacrifice itself, but what if we could look at it as something that shows or symbolizes hope for humanity?”
Squid Game season 3 was released on June 27, 2025.
Jeff Lynne is originally from the Shard End area of Birmingham
While Black Sabbath are claiming the headlines ahead of their final show, another Birmingham music icon, Jeff Lynne, is also preparing to make his farewell appearance in the city.
Lynne’s reformed ELO group will perform at the Utilita Arena on Saturday – in direct clash with the Sabbath extravaganza – and Sunday, as part of a final tour that will conclude in London’s Hyde Park.
The tour has been described as a “final goodbye” from the band, which was founded in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne and keyboardist Roy Wood.
Ann Gumery, from Solihull, who is going to watch the band with her husband, said the attention on ELO and Black Sabbath was good for the city’s profile.
She is a big fan of ELO’s music and said: “When I saw it was their last tour, you’ve got to go haven’t you.”
Ms Gumery also said there may be a few tears and with Black Sabbath playing too, “it’s going to be crazy”.
Getty Images
Originally called Electric Light Orchestra, the band was formed by Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood, of Wizzard fame, releasing their first album in 1972
Edward Hynes, 46, who lives near Shard End, where Lynne grew up, described ELO as “iconic”.
He said the band’s famous “Mr Blue Sky” was just “one of them songs” and always gave him “good vibes”.
“It reminds me a bit of when I was a kid driving around with my dad in his car,” Mr Hynes added.
Statue for Lynne?
Responding to suggestions there could be a statue of Lynne in the Shard End area, he said: “It would be good to have that shown in the area.”
Steve, who also lives in the area said “it’s all Black Sabbath at the moment,” but he also approved of the idea of a statue for Lynne.
After their appearances in Birmingham, Jeff Lynne’s ELO travel to Manchester, before their final tour gig at Hyde Park on 13 July.
Lynne said it would be significant because Hyde Park was the first place he played with the band when they reformed in 2014.
Jennifer Merrett was diagnosed with skin cancer after seeing beautician Rachael Day
A beautician’s work referring clients to get checked for skin cancer has been praised by islanders.
Jennifer Merrett was having an appointment when Racheal Day, owner of The Day Salon, suggested she get her skin checked.
Ms Merrett said she “didn’t for one for a moment think it would be skin cancer”.
Ms Day, who has undergone training in spotting skin abnormalities, said it was “really important for people to get early diagnosis if they have got something wrong”.
Ms Day said everyone in her salon had done further advanced training with Skcin, a UK charity which helps people who work with skin recognise any abnormalities on their clients.
“We see people regularly so we do notice any changes in their skin and we’ve had a few clients… that we’ve referred and there has been something wrong with them,” she said.
“It’s an honour to be able to help them.”
After visiting a GP, Ms Merrett had a biopsy and the cancer was cut out.
“I respect Racheal, she saw something and next time I went to the GP… I remembered the conversation.
“I just thought it was was an injection site and it was a reaction from my skin to an injection over a period of time.”
Terry Naftel got the all-clear but he said Ms Day’s service could be life-saving for others
Terry Naftel was having a waxing treatment when Ms Day recognised an irregular mole on his back.
He got the all-clear but he said her work could be life-saving for others.
“It’s an additional service that could be saving lives and it’s free really because all you’re doing is paying for the treatment,” he said.
This story is part of BBC Guernsey’s Sun Safety Campaign.
Queens Heath Pride in Kings Heath, Birmingham, takes place on Sunday
Glastonbury may be over but festival season in many parts of the Midlands is just swinging into action – and many events are free.
While Birmingham faces a stampede of thousands this weekend to watch Black Sabbath’s final gig, test cricket at Edgbaston or Jeff Lynne’s ELO, there are plenty of other celebrations taking place where people can simply turn up and enjoy the fun.
From Pride to poetry, here are some free events happening in the region on Saturday and Sunday.
CocoMAD: SwingFit, Bostin Brass and an immersive musical
Thorsten Schnier
CocoMAD has dozens of family-friendly activities
CocoMAD is a free, family-friendly festival held in Cotteridge Park, Birmingham.
Established in 1997, it is run mostly by volunteers and funded through local business sponsorships, traders, grants and donations.
It starts at 12:00 BST on Saturday, with an array of activities from live music by jazz, funk and ska soul band, Bostin Brass, to micro-circus immersive musicals.
SwingFit classes, involving, dancing, singing and playing instruments, will also be held from 13:00 to 17:00.
There is no parking on site, but you can cycle, walk or use public transport to get there.
Queens Heath Pride: Joy, sparkles and music
Thousands pack into York Road and surrounding streets for the annual Pride event
Kings Heath becomes Queens Heath for the day as the Birmingham suburb’s Pride event returns to York Road on Sunday.
It is the fifth annual event, which began in 2021 as anti-LGBTQIA+ protests were held outside Birmingham schools.
Each year, the festivities begin with a Pride march, before performers – many in glittering, elaborate costumes – take to a stage outside the Hare and Hounds.
Thousands of people turn out, decked in bright colours and glitter – and comedian and local resident Joe Lycett, one of the organisers, is usually among the crowds.
Birmingham artisan markets will be there with stallholders selling merch, ceramics and other wares.
There will also be family activities and a youth cafe in the nearby community centre.
Oswestry Food Festival: Street food, doughnuts and Italian treats
Grum
Food, drink and entertainment will be in the streets of Oswestry
Oswestry Food Festival is held on Saturday and Sunday.
Dozens of exhibitors will be on hand, selling everything from cheese to doughnuts, spirits to Italian food.
The town’s award-winning market will also be open, as well as regular street traders.
There will also be live music and entertainment.
Also in the area are a family fun day in Cae Glas Park on Saturday, and reggae in the park on Sunday.
Biddulph Festival: Space-themed and seaside fun
Biddulph Town Council
Seaside-style events will happen in Biddulph
Saturday will see the official launch of the Biddulph Festival 2025, held in Biddulph, Staffordshire.
An annual community festival that began in 1997, with this year’s theme being space.
There will be a launch parade, followed by “Biddulph by the Sea”, which brings seaside fun to the streets.
It will include a fun fair, stalls, and opening speeches.
Great Malvern Food Festival: Markets stalls and music
Getty Images
Plenty of food and drink will be available in Malvern
The Great Malvern Food Festival takes place on Saturday and Sunday.
It is the popular event’s 15th year and is held in Priory Park, Malvern, from 10:00 to 17:00 BST on Saturday and 10:00 to 16:00 BST on Sunday.
On offer will be local produce, market stalls and street food vendors.
There will also be a bar, live music and street performances in the bandstand.
Ledbury Poetry Festival: Talks, workshops and an outdoor market
Sunday is the final day of Ledbury Poetry Festival – and will see the Ledbury Celebration held from 11:00 to 16:00 BST.
It will also include an outdoor market and street food to St Katherine’s, just off the High Street.
Stallholders will show off a range of food, from pizza and organic vegetables, to Ukrainian-style food and Afghan food.
Entertainment will begin at 12:00 BST, and will include “al fresco” poetry and local musicians.
Wolverhampton Arts Festival: A celebration of local talent
Wolverhampton Arts Festival takes place on both Saturday and Sunday, held on the ground floor of the Mander Centre.
The event, in its third year, starts at 10:00 on Saturday and 11:00 BST on Sunday.
Free to attend, it will feature work by local artists, crafts and stalls, as well as a display of work by young artists.
Hannah Laing is bringing her dream to life with her first Doof festival in her home city
DJ and producer Hannah Laing is fulfilling a dream of bringing her own festival to her home city this weekend.
Doof in the Park is her debut one-day event at Camperdown Park in Dundee on Saturday.
All 15,000 tickets for the gig sold out within a week, before any other artists were announced, showing just how popular the 30-year-old has become.
Hannah, who began DJing as a teenager in local bars and clubs, said the event was the biggest project she had taken on to date.
“I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself and given myself a lot more work,” she told BBC Scotland News.
“But it just matters to me so much. I’ve been heavily involved in every aspect of the organisation and I just want it to be a great experience for people.”
Michael Hunter
Hannah has grown her brand, Doof, into a label and music festival.
Hannah gained widespread attention after the Covid pandemic with her edit of the early 2000s pop track Murder on the Dancefloor, which went viral on social media.
Her profile quickly grew, and in 2023, her track Good Love, a collaboration with vocalist RoRo, reached the UK top 10 and was certified platinum.
Since then, she has performed at major festivals including Glastonbury, Creamfields, TRNSMT and Parklife, and began a residency at Ibiza’s legendary HI club earlier this year.
Despite her success, it was only a few years ago she was still working full-time as a dental nurse, never imagining she’d one day be running a festival in her home city.
“I don’t even think it has hit me yet,” she said ahead of the gig.
“When I was working as a dental nurse, it was always just a hobby at weekends and, of course, I would have loved it to be my career.
“Never did I think it would go this far, but I’m so happy it has, and no more teeth!”
Hannah Laing
Hannah held a regular residency in the popular Ibiza bar, The Highlander.
Doof in the Park will feature three stages, each reflecting Hannah’s style and the spirit of her brand, Doof, named after the heavy beats of her musical sound.
The main stage will be headlined by Dutch trance legend Armin van Buuren, alongside former Radio 1 DJ, Judge Jules.
“I’m totally inspired by that 90s sound, and that really reflects my DJ sets and my production,” she said.
“That’s why I wanted to put those artists on the main stage, because that’s the sound I truly love.”
The second stage will feature newer artists such as Charlie Sparks and Jezza & Jod.
Theirs is a style Hannah regularly plays, and she recently collaborated with Sparks on a track from her upcoming Into The Bounce EP.
Scottish talent is also front and centre, with the third stage spotlighting local names including Billy Morris and Paul Findlay.
“Stage three is The Highlander stage,” Hannah said.
“I did my residency in The Highlander in Ibiza and I just wanted to pay my respects to that because that’s where my journey began.
“I wanted to put the local Dundee DJs on that stage and give them that good experience I used to have at The Highlander.”
Hannah believes the range of music across the three stages will attract a broad crowd.
“I knew when I announced a festival for Dundee there would be so many older people who would come, as well as the younger ones,” she said.
“So I really wanted to have something for everybody.”
The last time a music festival was held in Camperdown Park was Radio 1’s Big weekend in 2023, with a line-up including Tom Grennan
Camperdown Park has hosted major music events before, including Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2023 and Carnival 56 in 2017.
Both attracted large crowds and Hannah played at both.
Now, she returns as the organiser and headliner of her own sold out festival and she said it felt like a full circle moment.
“It’s surreal,” she said.
“I know it’s such a good spot for a festival, and it’s ten minutes from my house.”
For Hannah, holding the event in Dundee was never in question.
“There’s a major gap here,” she said. “We don’t have anything like it.
“People who are into dance music here usually need to travel, so I wanted to bring something new and fresh to people’s doorstep.”
Hannah says supporting the local economy has been central to her plans and has tried to keep everything as local as possible – from the traders to security staff.
She also hopes the event will help impact local businesses such as hotels, restaurants and beauty salons.
“With everything that it brings, it’s great for our wee city.”
Although Doof in the Park is a debut event, Hannah is already thinking long term.
“This is definitely something I’d like to do yearly,” she says, “I’d love that.”
An 11-year-old Olly Murs superfan said he had the “best day” of his life when the singer personally greeted him during a concert.
Zak and his family waited six hours to secure their spot at the front of the crowds for the Trouble Maker’s show at Cartmel Racecourse in south Cumbria.
The youngster was moved to tears throughout the performance of Murs’ 15 years of hits tour, so much so that the singer paused his set to chat with the schoolboy before dedicating a song to him.
Zak, from Chorley, Lancashire, told BBC Radio Cumbria: “He asked me why I was crying… and I said because you’re my favourite.”
He previously joked to his mum, Catherine, about whether his hero would come and greet him as they secured their spot at the front of the stage.
“I said that’s never going to happen Zak,” Catherine explained.
“But he did. We were just in shock. We genuinely couldn’t believe it, we were gobsmacked.”
Zak said Murs kept on looking at him throughout the show because he was crying.
“He must of thought, ‘Is he ok?’,” Zak said.
“So when he finished his song he asked if he could come down… and then that’s when he started talking to me and that was the best day ever.
“He gave me a hug and took a picture and then he dedicated a song out to me.
“I love his music and how kind he is.”
After the show, the family said Murs gave them an autograph and also offered tickets to his concert at the Llangollen Pavilion in Wales.
“He is a genuine, honest, fantastic idol and role model for children,” Catherine said.
“There’s not many people who would come down and see if children are ok, or anybody in the audience.
“We are just so overwhelmed by the generosity and the kindness from everybody. It goes to show that there is a lot of kindness in this world.”
Pop star Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom have officially confirmed they have split, US media outlets say, six years after getting engaged.
The couple have been romantically linked since 2016 and have a four-year-old daughter.
A joint statement said “representatives have confirmed that Orlando and Katy have been shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting,” according to outlets including People magazine and USA Today.
“They will continue to be seen together as a family, as their shared priority is – and always will be – raising their daughter with love, stability and mutual respect.”
The statement was being released due to the “abundance of recent interest and conversation” surrounding their relationship, it added.
The pop star, 40, and the 48-year-old actor split in 2017 but got back together shortly afterwards. They got engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2019.
A year later Perry revealed she was pregnant in the music video for her single Never Worn White.
Their daughter Daisy Dove was born later that year, with Unicef announcing the news on its Instagram account. Both Perry and Bloom are goodwill ambassadors for the United Nations agency that helps children.
US singer Perry, who was previously married to Russell Brand, shot to fame in 2008 with the single I Kissed A Girl, which reached number one in the UK.
Her hits since then have included Roar, California Gurls, Firework and Never Really Over.
Bloom was previously married to Australian model Miranda Kerr, and they have a son, 14-year-old Flynn.
The British actor has starred in Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Here’s an example of fate putting you where you should be: there was a girl at the airline who said, “When you go to London, you can stay at a boarding house on Sloane Street for $6.” I did, and I remember walking down King’s Road and at the time everything was grey — the sky, the buildings and the way people dressed. All of a sudden, I see this door — it’s got a kind of canvas cover and it’s painted with lots of colours. I was like, “What the hell?” And this sound was coming from it — it turned out it was The Beatles. This was really early and I felt the hair on my arms go up, and I went in like a moth to the flame. I was mesmerised. It was a shop called Dandies, and it was owned — I found out later — by the Stones. There was a big motorcycle inside, and the clothes were like, whoa! I’d never seen anything like them before.
I spent every weekend in London, and it was very much like I lived there full time — I was immersed. I would bring the clothes I found in London back to New York for my friends. So then, in 1967, I decided to open a shop. I found a little basement in a sort of townhouse in New York, I painted the floors, added snakeskin wallpaper and furniture from the Salvation Army, and started putting the clothes in there that I was buying in London.
Norma Kamali in her first store at 229 East 53rd Street in New York. Photo courtesy of Norma Kamali
In retrospect it all seems so obvious. Form a band, plunder the Beatles’ back catalogue for riffs, guitar tabs, chord changes and song structures, then bang it out in a key that a stadium crowd could put their lungs into but which suited the subway busker, too.
The resulting success now looks so inevitable. In 1994, dance music flooded the UK charts but not everyone thought a rave DJ wearing oversized headphones and playing records counted as a gig. Some people – a vast number, it turned out – still yearned for meat-and-two-veg pop-rock with guitars and drums, and for songs played by groups. Throw in some Manc bluster, the death throes of a Tory government that had occupied Downing Street since for ever, and the first glimmers of a cooler Britannia, and hey presto: Oasis.
Even if the dates don’t quite stack up, that’s how cultural theorists tend to describe the preconditions for one of the world’s biggest ever acts, staring at them through the rear view mirror of musical history after their 2009 implosion. But luck must have played its part, as it always does, along with something more elemental to do with brotherhood and chemistry: the sparks that flew between the Gallaghers were the same sparks that lit their creative drive.
Oasis at Knebworth prior to their two shows in August 1996. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Oasis made seven studio albums, all hugely successful. The third, 1997’s Be Here Now, was released with so much fanfare and expectation that a commercial triumph was guaranteed. But it felt bloated and indulgent, and even if it wasn’t quite a parody of the group’s status and smugness, it had enough calculated familiarity to make them sound like their own tribute band. Upstart effrontery and spiky provocation are evidently hard to maintain when the millions are rolling in. Undeterred, Oasis pressed on, the music going through its motions with only the odd gem to be discovered here and there.
The first two records, though, remain magnificent. I can’t really remember (and don’t care) which is which – they were two halves of the same whole, both full of pounding, adrenalised songs that sounded great on a transistor radio and unbelievable on a proper stereo system. When most bands enter the studio, start dickering with all the toys and turn it up to 11, sonic elements usually get distorted or drowned out.
The audio clarity on Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory is astonishing – it feels as if you’re in the room with them. The lyrics are … interesting: rhyme-driven breeze block couplets for the most part, ranging from the rousing, to the mysterious, to the trippy, to the witty, to the laughable, to the moronic. And I’ve sung along with them all, at the top of my voice, especially in the car, where Oasis are the perfect in-vehicle karaoke. Maybe Noel and his studio engineers had figured this out; he always maintained that to be mega successful you need to appeal to the dudes and the squares, and a lot of the squares are motorists with cash to splurge.
In 1995, Oasis and Blur slagged each other off and slugged it out in the singles chart for the Battle of Britpop, Blur coming out on top among accusations of retail skulduggery on both sides. It made the news headlines, because this wasn’t just a popularity contest, it was a media-framed fight between rock’n’roll cats and dogs. Blur were the feline, slippery, ironic, unbiddable, enigmatic art school smart Alecs, and Oasis the muscular, barely-house-trained mutts with a bark and a bite (Suede’s Brett Anderson called Oasis “the singing plumbers”). Characterised by some as a battle for music’s very soul, Blur v Oasis was also seen as a conflict between north and south, and I probably wanted Oasis to triumph for regional rather than aesthetic reasons.
The Oasis back line came and went in the years that followed, with no noticeable effect. Most of its members turned out to be interchangeable and disposable, with fans not really caring who was beating the skins or twanging the bass. In essence, Oasis are the brothers Gallagher, like the twin stars of Sirius, pulsing in the firmament, forever revolving around each other in captured orbit but never able to embrace.
Liam was the couldn’t-give-a-toss gobshite, with not so much a potty mouth as the oral equivalent of a sewage works for a large metropolitan area, and that was OK because he had the cockiness and looks to back it up. He also had a fantastic voice: all tonsil, adenoid, teeth and tongue, loud enough to crowd-surf to the back of a stadium, sharp and sneery enough to enunciate. Noel took the role of scheming mastermind and ace guitarist. It was his idea to conquer the planet and his compositions that would do it. When he stepped into the rehearsal room of his kid brother’s wannabe outfit, he found a shambles, and he gave them material, discipline and direction. That’s the received wisdom, at least – he couldn’t have done it without a frontman like Liam.
Oasis on Channel 4’s The White Room in 1996. Photograph: Des Willie/Redferns
The brothers’ obscenity-ridden slander was a joint enterprise, tearing into other artists and bands with merciless and sometimes hilarious savagery, calling out banality, mediocrity and inability with a refreshing lack of caution. But for all of Liam’s bladed comments and boorish behaviour there was something funny and even innocent about him. Noel, by comparison, seemed wily and defensive; the role of lovable arsehole never came as naturally to him as it did to his younger sibling.
Across two decades the weird psychodrama of their fraternal dynamic has been hard to keep up with. Noel stormed off more than once, sometimes returning to the lineup when only the diehard aficionados knew he’d quit. And the barneys weren’t just artistic flouncing or creative hissy fits, they were proper brawls with weaponised tambourines, guitars and cricket bats. It felt tiresome on occasions, especially as Oasis’s significance waned and cultural sensibilities shifted, but undoubtedly it’s one of the elements that make the planned reunion so compelling.
Because the enmity can’t simply have melted away, can it? There was genuine bad blood between Noel and Liam, which found expression through genuine violence. It’s not impossible to imagine the upcoming tour abandoned on day one, with the brothers in separate luxury hotels, one soothing a bruised fist with a packet of frozen peas, the other with a cartoon rib-eye steak on his face taking the sting out of a shiner.
But when Oasis do finally appear together after a 16-year absence, fans will be back on each other’s shoulders or arm in arm, singing gnomic phrases and occasional nonsense, united by some irresistible bond. If they play Acquiesce – the verses sung by Liam, the choruses by Noel – it’s interesting to wonder what silent thoughts might pass between the warring siblings when they get to the bit about needing and believing in each other. The roar of the crowd, hymning back the lyrics, will be telling them it’s true.
From the Thierry Mugler suit he got married in to his costumes from the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane era, David Bowie’s most iconic looks will be available for fans to see up close as the V&A museum opens its David Bowie Centre on 13 September.
Part of the V&A’s wider archival project, the V&A East Storehouse, the Bowie archive comprises more than 90,000 items – which won’t all be on display at once. Instead, in details revealed today, visitors will be able to order up items to look at closely, while V&A archivists and star curators will make selections to go on display in a series of rotating showcases. Tickets will be free.
Nile Rodgers, the Chic bandleader and guitarist who worked with Bowie on the hit album Let’s Dance, has curated one of these areas, with items including correspondence between the two, studio images taken by Peter Gabriel during the making of Bowie’s Rodgers-assisted 1993 album Black Tie White Noise, and a bespoke suit designed by Peter Hall for the Serious Moonlight tour.
“My creative life with David Bowie provided the greatest success of his incredible career, but our friendship was just as rewarding,” Rodgers said, announcing the partnership. “Our bond was built on a love of the music that had both made and saved our lives.”
Guest curators the Last Dinner Party marvel at items in the Bowie archive. Photograph: Timothy Eliot Spurr/Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Also playing guest curators are the members of chart-topping alt-pop band the Last Dinner Party, whose selections include handwritten lyrics for the Young Americans album, studio photos by Mick Rock and – rather nerdishly – the manual for Bowie’s EMS synth, heard on the so-called Berlin trilogy of albums.
“David Bowie continues to inspire generations of artists like us to stand up for ourselves,” the band said in a joint statement. “When we first started developing ideas for TLDP, we took a similar approach to Bowie developing his Station to Station album – we had a notebook and would write words we wanted to associate with the band. It was such a thrill to explore Bowie’s archive, and see first-hand the process that went into his world-building and how he created a sense of community and belonging for those that felt like outcasts or alienated – something that’s really important to us in our work too.”
Rodgers and the band’s choices will be included in an area featuring items that are rotated every six months or so, with fresh guest curators each time.
There will also be eight other sections showcasing around 200 Bowie items curated by the V&A team in collaboration with young people from the neighbouring London boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, with each area refreshed every few years.
These will include a look at Bowie’s unrealised projects, such as film tie-ins with the Diamond Dogs and Young Americans albums, and even a mooted adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. Other areas will spotlight iconic moments such as his 1987 Glass Spider tour, his collaborations with bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and the creation of the Ziggy Stardust persona.
There will also be an interactive installation tracing Bowie’s impact on pop cultural figures from Issey Miyake to Lady Gaga, and a film compiling live performances across his career.
What will really provoke Bowie fans’ fascination, though, is seeing objects up close, “including costumes, musical instruments, models, props and scenery” according to the V&A. Visitors will be able to book to see five items each visit, with two weeks’ notice, using the V&A’s “order an object” service. Bookings will begin in September.
More than 70,000 of the archive items are photographic prints, negatives and transparencies, and these, along with other paper-based items – “notebooks, diaries, lyrics, scripts, correspondence, project files, writings, unrealised projects, cover artwork, designs, concept drawings, fanmail and art” – will also be available to view by special appointment.
The V&A first acquired Bowie’s archive in 2023, with director Tristram Hunt promising the David Bowie Centre would be a “new sourcebook for the Bowies of tomorrow”.
He and his team will hope the centre will be a major tourist draw to its new V&A East Storehouse, which opened in May in the Olympic Park, Stratford. Like the David Bowie Centre within it, the building showcases items from the V&A’s collection, and allows visitors to book to see other items close up.
“We wanted it to feel like an immersive cabinet of curiosities,” the building’s architect Liz Diller told the Guardian. “So you land right in the middle, at the very heart of the building, flipping the usual progression from public to private.”
The Guardian’s architecture critic Oliver Wainwright said the buildings gives “a thrilling window into the sprawling stacks of our national museum of everything”, while art critic Jonathan Jones said in a five star review: “This is what the museum of the future looks like – an old idea that’s now been turned inside out, upside down, disgorging its secrets, good and bad, in an avalanche of beautiful questions, created with curiosity, generous imagination and love.”
Another V&A outpost in the Olympic Park, the more traditional gallery space of V&A East Museum, will open in spring 2026.
