best known artists — photographer david bailey. you were saying before that you have been painting since you were really young? three. yes. been 80 years. 80 years and i end up with that! david bailey's paintings are actually here in a shop, in the west end of london. i like the idea, i like the idea of anything that's different. sort of lead somewhere else and things are changing rapidly now with this silly virus thing. things aren't going to be the same as they were, which is quite exciting. and the best way to see this exhibition is apparently from the number 75. on the bus, it's the best. when you drive up oxford street, especially if it's raining, you get on the front of the bus, i did it last time, it's most exciting. only lasts three minutes or two minutes but it's worth doing! i do them because i like doing them.

like a spoilt child, really. scribbling with his paints. i used to scribble in books when i was a kid. i think being dyslexic helps because you never know what you're going to do. like taking a picture. it's difficult. i drive my assistants mad, they say how are we going to do it and i don't know until i met the person and then when i meet the person i use them to find out how we are going to do their picture. and those pictures have been doing a roaring trade during lockdown. sales of prints are rocketing. i think people have time to think about things. when they are on lockdown. they sort of thought, maybe i've always fancied buying a david bailey print! which ones have been the most popular? jean shrimpton is always popular, always popular. she's the most popular one. even if you put her on the internet, she gets more hits than anybody else. the winsome david bailey who created the famous modeljean shrimpton and married the famous mother catherine deneuve, shows how to bring out the best in a woman. is there anybody that you would have

liked to have photographed that you never managed to photograph? i've done everybody i like. i mean, there's ones i missed. i always wanted to do the cuban guy, castro, but i don't have any regrets because you can't do everybody. everybody has got a story to tell, everybody, even the most boring person has got a story if you dig deep enough. the great david bailey. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. the end of summer, heather? we've got some work coming our way, not this week, but potentially the week after. not a great deal of rain in the south, but we have got some rain today in the form of showers in the south. you can see on the satellite picture across england and wales. yes, there are sunny across england and wales. yes, there are sunny spells, but a scattering of showers. northern ireland have been drier and brighter. one of two

of these showers could actually be a little bit thundery before the evening is out. it feels warmer today because we have the lighter winds. as we go to this evening, though showers will ramble out across southern though showers will ramble out across southern areas. though showers will ramble out across southern areas. not so further north. temperatures have arrested from the fall, because we have a strengthening wind bringing rain towards dawn. in the south, potentially some fog for commuters now that the nights are getting longer. you'll be diminished by the atla ntic longer. you'll be diminished by the atlantic this week. west and they f which will bring in milder air over the next few days. it also come as you can see, and of a lot of cloud. tomorrow's top temperatures come into the top 20. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: a man has been killed and seven people are injured in stabbings in birmingham overnight. police declare a major incident

but rule out terrorism. tougher coronavirus restrictions have come into force in bolton, the area which now has the highest infection rate in england. uk foreign secretary dominic raab says this week is the moment of reckoning as the uk tries to strike a trade deal with the european union. and tens of thousands of people have joined the latest anti—government protests in the belarusian capital, minsk. now on bbc news, a behind—the—scenes look at the preparations as some of the biggest names in italian opera gatherfor a glittering night under the stars at the verona arena. music plays. italy, home of opera —

and the night the music came alive again at the famous roman arena in verona. after months of silence, a dazzling gala concert with a big cast of italian opera stars. they sing. i missed to go and to put my feet on the stage — to feel the power of the orchestra. i'm going behind the scenes to find out what the future holds for live opera.

music is something that goes directly to the soul. it's not important, you know, the quality now, we start to think about the quality later, maybe in a few months, but now let's do music. and will audiences return? i'm from verona, and the arena, it is our place to meet and enjoy music. so it was very important for me to be here tonight — the first occasion of reopening it. he sniffles. sorry. they sing.

for an opera fan such as myself, it's a real treat to visit the roman amphitheatre in verona in northern italy — which, since 1913, has hosted a summer opera festival. but it's with some trepidation that i come here because, like many, i'm wondering how live opera performances are going to survive the coronavirus crisis. the arena's general manager and artistic director, cecilia gasdia, has invited me to come and see for myself how she and her team are all pulling together to make this year's festival work. cecilia tells me that social distancing rules mean, for now, opera's are being staged in concert form — with no lavish sets and costumes and without intervals.

cecilia turned to management after a long career as a celebrated soprano. she's performed at the arena and appreciates its marvellous acoustics.

the opening concert is dedicated to italy's health workers. about 25 of the country's opera stars are singing arias from italian opera. i joined them at last—minute rehearsals in a nearby venue. but how did opera singers keep themselves in shape to prepare themselves for a live performance after months of lockdown? well, opera singers are a little bit like athletes — their artform is physically demanding and they have to constantly train and use their voice to maintain their fitness. the world—renowned tenor francesco meli and his soprano wife, serena giambrone, could at least practice together during lockdown at home in genoa. the audience is... cos you see...

i don't know, many, many people are very different, like the theatre and everybody is here for you, for the performers, for the... ..to take the emotion and the whole arena is like this. lockdown has been tough on singers. many artists worldwide like soprano donata d'annunzui lombardi are facing very uncertain futures. i had many cancellations because i had five productions that were cancelled. this is the destiny for every artist for every singer in this period. but anyway, i think that a real artist is always free to build another world, another...

opportunity? yes, opportunity. # ave maria...#. bass baritone alex kept up his singing via video links during italy's strict quarantine period. alex lost a friend to covid—i9 and believes he suffered himself. i started with symptoms — fever, tiredness — and i lost the taste and the smell. so i'm quite sure that i had it, and i was alone. i would've been scared. you are from bergamot, which is one of the cities that was worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic. how did you feel when all of that was going on? very sad, of course, because i have a lot of friends there and relatives, of course.

and they told me the only two sounds they could hear, it was of the ambulance and the bells of the church for dead people. so how did you manage to maintain your normal routine of practising your vocal exercises and so on? of course, when i started to feel better, i thought, what was the future of my life and of myjob, of course, and my art? it was soon possible, i started to practice again alone to move my voice and to run to the light because i wanted to exit from this. lombardi was the part of italy at the pandemic‘s epicentre in which 35,000 italians died. milan is the regional capital, and mezzo—soprano annalisa stroppa lives just

outside the city. she sings. yeah, the first month for me was totally in silence. because i feel that the voice didn't want to sing. i was not in a mood. are you worried about the future for opera and future performances in other parts of the world? it's a very worrying period. of course, everybody thinks of how it will be in the future, how we can come back to work. the music is my life. it's not only a job for me. i miss a lot the relationship with the public, i miss to go and to put my feet on the stage — to feel the power of the sounds of the orchestra.

mounting operas is extremely expensive, and operating with audiences at greatly reduced capacity is just not financially viable. how can theatres survive? the arena normally seats 13,500 but, with current guidelines, that's had to drop right down to 3,000. outside the arena, i see a group of artists demanding more government funding for the arts. as general manager, cecilia gasdia oversees 1,400 staff

at the arena di verona. her leadership qualities were apparent from childhood. she was the second of three daughters. but could nature wreck months of planning? there is heavy rain in the run—up the concert. even the 14th century italian poet dante seems to be wondering if the weather will spoil it.

relief all around, the sun appears for the stars of italian opera. and as final preparations get under way, i catch up with one of the conductors, ricardo frizza, and ask him what it's like to conduct an orchestra with new social distancing rules. it's difficult, it's not the same as before. because, of course, the more distance between the musicians, there's been more complications for the ensemble, for them playing together. does the music suffer in quality because of social distancing, in your opinion? yes. it lacks a bit of precision. but i think it's better to lack precision than stop the music. music is something that goes directly to the soul,

it's not important, you know, the quality now. we will start to get into the quality maybe later, in a few months, but now let's do music. one singer limbers up his voice at the arena and attracts a few curious passersby. he sings. at last, the countdown begins. well, there's an air of nervous expectancy. it's just over an hour before tonight's gala concert begins, and the tension is almost palpable. musicians from the orchestra slowly taking up their position behind me, and also members of the audience are taking their place. this is the first time that the arena di verona

is staging a live performance since lockdown ended. there are even some members of the paparazzi assembled because there are various dignitaries in the audience, including the president of the italian senate. it's also a return to the arena for locals and visitors. why have you decided to come to the opera tonight? to support the arts, but also because a lot of people every year come here to verona to see the opera. i still remember when i came to my office because i still had the right to go to the office, most people couldn't. and i live just a few streets down there, and i came to my office, which is over here, and the entire square was a total desert. it was so heartbreaking. so unbelievably heartbreaking, and it's so great to see it alive again. i think it's very important for the people staying in verona. and are you nervous about sitting in the audience with many people? no. no, no.

absolutely not. this isn'tjust an important event for the arena di verona. it's also very significant for the whole of the italian nation because it represents a reawakening of the country's culture. there is one big difference, though, this time, hand sanitiser, and i have to have my temperature checked... ..before i can go in. and unless you're performing, masks are compulsory. gong rings. and they like to start them young at the arena di verona. six—year—old lucas conducts the national anthem.

and then we are in for a treat as one opera star after another performs solo on stage. she sings. so, annalisa stroppa, and the audience absolutely love her. she's a very attractive,

engaging performer — singing aria there, rosina in the very popular barber of seville by rossini, and rosina determined to use all her wiles to capture the heart of her dashing lover. he sings. and now we have donata lombardi — who is singing, again, a very famous aria from tosca by puccini. she sings. violin plays.

he sings.

so you can see how the audience absolutely loved francesco meli — singing an aria there from il trovatore by verdi. the knight talking about his eternal love for his fiancee, leonora. and considered to be the leading tenor here in italy, francesco meli, and you can just tell from the reaction of the audience here that they loved it. bravo! she sings. applause.

he sings. and the last performer is the extraordinary baritone, leo nucci, singing an aria for my favourite opera — rigoletto by verdi. he sings.

applause.

then the artistic director cecelia gasida joins in the finale — a personal triumph for her. the arena di verona has not been silenced. they sing. the title of the rousing popular neapolitan song which the opera stars sing at the end of the concert

is ‘o sole mio — meaning "oh, my sunshine." well, with economic downturns and warnings of new waves of covid—19, let us indeed hope that we can all look forward to a sunnier future. they sing. we will keep such and for the rest of day like today, the winds lighter than yesterday said temperatures higher, it feels warmer, but we do have more showers around, not as many as yesterday for scotland and

northern ireland, but they are clustering and pushing southwards and eastwards. one or two could turn out thundery as well. they will rumble on into the evening and then fade away and under the clearing skies it will turn chilly, we could even have some fog for the morning commute. all change for the north and west with thickening cloud on a strengthening wind and rain, quite persistent rain by the time we get to monday morning because we have the next area of low pressure up towards iceland driving the weather front southwards and eastwards, but high pressure towards the south will keep those weather fronts at bay and up keep those weather fronts at bay and up to the morning fog clears it is here where we will see the brightest weather and the rain turns patchy to the day despite the cloud and hill fog it will be a mild day.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 4pm... a man has been killed and seven are injured in stabbings in birmingham overnight — police declare a "major incident" but rule out terrorism. there's absolutely no suggestion at all that this is terror related. this is being treated as a homicide being investigated by west midlands police. the stabbings occured at several different locations over a period of two hours last night. police are still looking for a male suspect — an eyewitness describes what he saw. the police were reacting straightaway. they came here within seconds. obviously, nobody chased him because, by the time the police were there, the guy was already at the bottom of hurst street. tougher coronavirus restrictions have come into force in bolton,