hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. a 25—year—old man is arrested as armed police stage a further raid as part of inquiries into the manchester arena bomb attack. the conservatives and labour promise more action to minimise the threat of terror attacks in the wake of the manchester bombing. british airways is still having to cancel and delay flights at heathrow. it follows yesterday's computer collapse which saw thousands of travellers stranded around the world. we've tried desperately to contact ba by email, by phone, on their website and also trying to find ground staff, and we haven't seen anybody on the ground at all. now on bbc news, a look at this year's city of culture, hull. hello, and welcome to hull, the uk city of culture. showcasing the brightest and the best of contemporary

culture has brought us here to hull's cemetery for a circus performance with a difference. and continuing our celebration of difference, we meet mat fraser, who will be putting his disability centre stage to play shakespeare's richard iii. i'm a deformed actor playing a deformed character for the first time in britain, which is extraordinary that it should be the first, but it's exciting that i get to do it. we will meet the army of 2017 volunteers giving up their free time for culture. # there's a starman, waiting in the sky... and go on a trip down memory lane with a spider from mars. hello, i'm anne—marie tasker, and i'm the arts—and—culture

correspondent for the bbc here in hull, and this is kofi smiles. i'm the face of hull, chosen by the bbc with a mission, to bring you culture whenever and wherever it happens. today, we are taking it quite literally, because we are not in a concert hall or in a theatre, we are here in a graveyard. it's a setting for a performance which is quite difficult to sum up in just a few words. it's part—circus acrobats, part—music, part—dance, and it all takes place under the cover of darkness. aerialists, acrobats, video artists, singers. coming together to tell the story of an ancient greek legend in a new way. depart explores the tragic love story of orpheus when he descends into the underworld and tries and fails to bring his dead wife eurydice back to life. the audience happens upon the action as they wander through hull's general cemetery. but trying to find the right trees

and battling the british weather has been challenging. performing outdoors definitely has its challenges like that. namely the weather. quite often you will find yourself quite drippy, and wet. it's also kind of really exciting in the outdoors, because it's not often in the outdoors that you get the chance to perform in a tree, or under the stars. what's magical about it is that the audience is in the outside, in the wilderness with you, so that you get to share an experience a lot more than in a theatre, where you are on stage and it seems very separate. the show is by the world—renowned australian company circa, who only arrived to rehearse a few days before the first performance. and although this graveyard closed in the 1970s, the choice of venue has caused some controversy. if you approach something with respect and with care, and if your intent is to help bring a community to this place, to improve this place, and a great deal of nurture has been given to this site, then i think

you are only doing good. the show premiered last summer, but for these performances, circa are working with one of hull's community choirs. more than 100 members of the freedom chorus have spent months rehearsing, and add an ethereal soundtrack to the performance. it's absolutely brilliant to be part of the city of culture, but to be able to perform alongside circa as well is really incredible. it's not a venue that anybody knows is a venue, of course. of course, great respect will be paid, because of where we are. well, it's getting dark now and everyone is here waiting for the event to start. i'm really excited. are you really excited? no, i'm a bit spooked, actually. shall we go and have a look anyway? let's go. don't look back. follow the torches. you are entering our play.

walk in silence. it's friday night, walking around a graveyard, so i thought it was brilliant, the way they brought out a different location for such a great event. a unique experience. i've only got one difficulty, how do you describe it to somebody that wasn't there? you couldn't describe it in words. the setup, where it was, where it is held, the performers, they were fantastic. absolutely fantastic. brilliant, fantastic. captivating. enthralling, absolutely brilliant. and after hull, the play moves from brighton to blackpool. depart is just one of hundreds of events taking part in hull during 2017. in fact, an event has been promised every day of the year. and when you make a promise

like that, you are going to need a lot of people to help with the staging, and that's where the hull 2017 volunteers come in. everyday people giving up their free time to lend a hand. there are more than 2,000 of them, ranging in age from 16 up to sa. caroline has been to meet some of them. they are the blue—coated army, an army of volunteers from all backgrounds, ages, from all over the uk. from greeting people at events to performing as extras in plays, the 2017 volunteers are the engine that is helping to drive this year of culture in hull. in much the same way as the games makers did at the london olympics, hull's volunteers are the welcoming face of this city in its culture year. my name is sue.

there's no way i was going to miss this year's volunteering. sue caught the bug at london 2012 and she was one of the original games makers. tonight, the blue jacket is being left at home. a green tabard is the uniform for this event in one of the city's public parks. sue and other volunteers have been collecting information on their audiences. all three of you from spain? we are finding in most of the activities we do there are people from all over the world coming. it's just incredible. has it surprised you? yes, it has. good evening. are you here to join the search for the seven eyes? well, you can't say the job of a volunteer isn't varied. at this one event alone, they have been directing all these people to where they need to be, collecting their data, and some are even part of the performance itself. i'm grace.

and i'm louise. we wanted to be city of culture volunteers because we couldn't resist being involved in such a fantastic opportunity. the toilets are downstairs on the ground floor. mum of two louise also works full—time as a teacher. she is squeezing in her volunteering shifts on evenings and weekends. when you put that jacket on it gives you license to strike up a conversation with absolutely anybody. even out of the uniform, i'm finding that i'm more likely to start a conversation with people who i don't know than i was before. 18—year—old grace has autism. volunteering for her is stepping completely out of her comfort zone, but today she is helping out at a stress test for an upcoming theatre production. well, this is a rehearsal of a performance due to take place in a couple of weeks' time, and it will require the audience to move around the performance

space, so the volunteers are being used to put it to the test and make sure it works when it goes live. it's been interesting to see how a theatre company works on its first show, and it's been quite enjoyable. i wasn't as confident before. talking to people, strangers, but i feel now i'm a lot more confident. i've seen already in the first few months that she has just flown in terms of her confidence. she is one of the welcoming faces of hull, and for me that's a gift that the city of culture has given to me, as a mum. i'm enid. i'mjason. at first, i didn't think we would be able to be involved. enid and jason have also thrown themselves out of their comfort zone to become volunteers. both are partially sighted. which is your favourite?

some people see us as visually impaired and you are put in a corner, but we have been put out the front, because it's nice. you feel more engaged with what is going on with this process in general, but it gives you a little insight in things that you thought you couldn't do, which you can, with that support network going on in the background. i think we should give something back to our communities. and this has given people such a massive opportunity to do that. i think that it's absolutely wonderful that i have been given the opportunity. hopefully, at the end of the year, we will have a huge army of people then in a position to volunteer for all sorts of organisations and really lift the community life of the city. still to come.

the city of culture goes global with celebrations in hull's twin city, freetown. we remember david bowie and the spiders from mars with the drummer, woody woodmansey. but first, here's my guide to some 2017 highlights and a little look ahead at what is to come. north atlantic flux took us on a four—day journey of musical discovery, bringing a host of icelandic and scandinavian musicians to hull. 0n the orchard park estate, local residents collaborated with artists to put on a vibrant parade around the neighbourhood. the ferens art gallery has an amazing new exhibition called skin, which features work by ron mueck, lucian freud and the sea of hull photographs taken by spencer tunick of over 3,000 naked blue volunteers. i'm about there. you've only one life. just live it. and i don't care if

anybody sees me or not. we are looking forward to assemblefest, which takes over an ordinary shopping street, turning unlikely places into pop—up performance spaces. # she's a perfect ten... nearly 30 years ago, the beautiful south performed in hull, and injune, paul heaton and jackie abbott appeared for a one—off gig. east park will be transformed to the fictional malarkey park for hull's first children's literature festival. and injuly, the bbc proms will come to hull for a day of outdoor concerts, the first time recently that this british institution has travelled outside of london. well, from a circus performance in a graveyard to something more traditional. we are talking shakespeare, richard iii to be precise. but hull being hull, it's with a difference. we are sitting in with the lead actor, mat fraser.

he is returning to his theatrical roots, after a role in american horror story. can you imagine a mug on this normal body? i could have ruled the world. mat fraser has been in rehearsals for three weeks now. and for him, it's one of the toughest roles he's ever had, with 685 lines to learn. director barry rutter started northern broadsides 25 years ago with the aim of making shakespeare accessible to all. his success means others are sure to follow. you have done lots of theatre,

but never any shakespeare. why now? i did puck in a midsummer night's dream. the reason why now is because i was intrigued to be asked to audition, and i'm what we might call a mid—term career artist, and each time you do something it is less shocking, dangerous, the next time you do it. it had been a long time since i had been scared of something, and just the notion of doing that wonderful, eponymous character... it's not the easiest of shakespeare's plays, is it?

it's one of the most—famous plays, it's done more than hamlet, even. and it is the only one where the character talks directly to the audience, and they are in on his secrets of evil. he's one of the most—famous villains and famous disabled people. i think i'm one of the first people to say i'm a deformed actor playing a deformed character in britain. it's extraordinary that i should be the first, but exciting that i get to do it. it must be a big deal for you, isn't it? it wasn't from me, i didn't push to get it. i was offered it. although one could say it's about time, barry offered it to me and not anybody else, so i'm going to run with it and see what we do.

i'm fascinated to see what audience members make of it. he's out and out evil. he's horrible to everyone. he stabs them in the back by any means necessary. as a disabled person, i can relate to having to think round the corners. i can't really relate to the murder and decay that he causes, though. for me, the challenge is to step up to playing one of the biggest characters. i've never played the lead before. you have to own that. i'm very much a team player. i have ego, obviously. i wouldn't be an actor otherwise, but i don't have a monstrous ego that wishes to be the star.

so owning the lead, that's my challenge. in terms of challenges for the audience, it is whether my deformity pulls them out of the play. but i think of lenny henry doing 0thello. there's been a lot of boot polish going on over the years, so now, let's go! hull is twinned with freetown in africa. in sierra leone. it started with william wilberforce trying to abolish the slave trade. hull and freetown were twinned 30 years ago, and it's a relationship

being celebrated in 2017 with a concert later this summer. shirley henry has been finding out more about freetown and how it's being involved with the city of culture. we love you, people of hull. a message from freetown to hull. this is the capital of sierra leone, and as its partner enjoys its year as the city of culture, expectations are growing as to what this will mean for freetown. i expect people will want to see musical treats coming from freetown. all the stuff we've got going on, i'm sure it's true. they don't have a choice but to be treated. but for most people, sierra leone is not known for its culture, but for this, ebola. progress has been made,

but its impact still resonates. 50,000 people also died in a civil war in the 1990s. sierra leone's refugee all—stars was formed during the crisis. people were killed in front of my eyes. i saw people burned in front of me. i lost my brother, my sister, my friends. it was too bad. the all—stars translated their suffering into lyrics that inspire and uplift. as part of the city of culture celebrations, they have travelled to hull to spread hope, joy and faith.

culture means a lot. it will bring good connections between freetown and hull city, so i think it means something. this year is notjust about showcasing talent like this, but building educational links and letting people know that freetown is open for business. to cement theirfuture relationships, the twin cities are now building connections through education. pupils at this school can share cultural links via skype. your pen pal wants to know what your favourite food is. this is notjust for the children, but it is for them to access more information to develop more creative thinking.

i like school, because when i go there, i can express myself and i learn many things. when i finish, i want to become a lawyer. this is freetown's version of the promotional film that propelled hull's place as the city of culture for this year. freetown now wants the world to know it is open for business. it's one of rock music's most—celebrated partnerships. during the 1970s david bowie and the spiders from mars changed the face of music. while the london—born david bowie was an art—school graduate, the spiders from mars had a very different musical apprenticeship. they honed their skills on the club—pub circuit from hull, playing as the rats.

sadly, only one of them is left, woody woodmansey. we went on a trip down memory lane with him. # there's a starman, waiting in the sky. # he'd like to come and meet us... 1972, and david bowie introduced britain's music fans to the spiders from mars. woody woodmansey is the only surviving member of the group, and he has come back home to visit some of the places where he hung out before he was famous. this was the first place i ever recorded with anybody. i recorded with the rats with mick ronson.

he'd been in with the rats with another drummer, and they done the rise and fall of bernie gripplestone. i doubt it would have worked for david bowie. the rats played their first gigs in hull and east yorkshire, from church halls to pubs. we were in the duke of cumberland in 1969. how much has it changed since then? i don't recognise anything. different net curtains then! we would come back to hull and we would come here.

we would have a night out, watch bands. it doesn't look like you would fit on there with your drum kit. my drum kit would fit on there but the band would not, definitely not! the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars was the album they played. but there was one place they never performed it, hull. finally, they're coming to play here. it was the biggest gig in hull, so it was with my dream to play here. how does it feel to be up here, getting ready to play? it's great. it's somewhere that david wanted to play himself, because he knew we were from hull, so it was always on our wish list, but itjust never happened.

so to come back now, hull, the city of culture, it's amazing. to be able to celebrate david's legacy and do it for mick and trevor. it would've been nice for them to be here in their city, to be playing. more than four decades since that tour, they perform the full album the first time ever live, as part of the celebrations. woody's dream of playing the album in hull has finally come true. that is it from hull's general

cemetery and our latest look at the highlights from the uk city of culture. we will be back in the summer, but you can get your cultural fix on our website. goodbye. some of you may be wondering why i

have this sphere behind me. it has been a decent day. but then the cloud the conduct across the channel, into the southern counties. we have seen the odd burst of rain, the odd rumble of thunder. we continue that process for the rest of the evening and overnight, pushing towards northern ireland and southern scotland. behind it, it may be we see the return of thunderstorms across central and southern england. notice how sticky it is again across the south. much fresher further north. it is again across the south. much fresherfurther north. it it is again across the south. much fresher further north. it stays dry for the first part of monday, but that will not be the weight of it, because the cloud and rain pushes north, until it becomes extensive across the northern half of the british isles. you will have to be a long way north to stay dry until this point. the odd moderate burst getting in across the western side of scotland, it is drizzly, the cloud sitting low across the eastern

side of the pennines. some of the showers turn quite intense. there is the possibility of further muddy and moving towards east anglia and the south—east, increasing the chance of the odd rumble of thunder. a quieter affaircoming the odd rumble of thunder. a quieter affair coming towards wales and the south—west. a bit of brightness will lift the temperatures. the cloud and rain keeps progressing towards the north, but it will be late in the day before we see brightness across northern ireland and the north of england. 0n tuesday, notice the isobars, around this area of low pressure. from tuesday into wednesday, it is high—pressure, a fresh start the

day, but at least with the high—pressure becoming dominant for the latter part of tuesday, through wednesday, the first of thursday, and will turn dryer and there will be sunshine. this is bbc world news today. i'm geeta guru—murthy. our top stories... a warning from germany's chancellor following a tense g7 summit — she says europe can no longer fully rely on other nations. british airways resumes some flights after a massive computerfailure —

but delays continue and thousands of passengers remain stranded. we've been in the line for about five hours now. we've no idea how long we're going to be here and we are getting no communication from the staff. less than a week after the devastating terror attack in manchester, thousands turn out for the annual city run. and that first handshake between trump and macron, the french president says his bone—crushing technique is no innocent gesture. we will find out