daniela relph, bbc news. on christmas day of heart failure. he was 53. the singer sold more than 100 million albums in a career spanning nearly four decades. his partner, fadi fawaz, says he will never stop missing him. 0ur arts editor will gompertz looks back at george michael's life. # wham bam, iam a man # wearing a bikerjacket and a white tee, george michael takes his first steps into the limelight as one half of the pop duo, wham!. # if notjust stop, don't stay there and rot # back then, he had big hair and a perma—tan — it was his idea of early ‘80s glam. the reality was a little different. so they stuck us in this hotel that couldn't have been more than 80p to a quid a night. audience laughter. and i was sleeping the night before my first top of the pops i had polystyrene sheets and it was a childsize bed! audience laughter. so i was like this... i was sat with my feet over the end, thinking, ? this is not how it's supposed to be! # club tropicana drinks are free fun and sunshine ...# he continued to l

daniela relph, bbc news. back now to our top story. a visit to hawaii by japan's prime of pearl harbor and a visit to hawaii byjapan's prime minister. i've been talking to the director of the japan studies programme ofjohns hopkins university, professor kent calder, who told me about his family connection with the attack on pearl harbor. my harbor. father's uncle was the commander of my father's uncle was the commander of the west virginia. prime minister abe will be visiting exactly the ship that was right behind the ship that my uncle commanded and he sadly was killed that day by a bomb frack went on the west virginia. was killed that day by a bomb frack went on the west virginialj was killed that day by a bomb frack went on the west virginia. i guess in the wake of all this we should all welcome reconciliation, that the us andjapan all welcome reconciliation, that the us and japan have managed to strike up us and japan have managed to strike upa us and japan have managed to strike up a strong alliance, president 0bama managed to vis

daniela relph looks back on the momentous occasion and other events in the royal calendar in review 2016l year. brass band plays ‘happy birthday'. it was the year of a big birthday. the queen at 90. for some of her grandchildren and great—grandchildren, a trip to canada. the first official overseas visit for the family of four. the duke and duchess of cambridge were also in india. a reminder of royal visits past. and for prince harry, a new relationship highlighted the tricky balance between a private and public life. when you're the queen, you get two birthdays. the real one and the official one. april the 21st was the queen's actual 90th birthday, and she celebrated in windsor. there was of course a cake, baked by nadiya hussain, the winner of the great british bake off. and a meeting with fellow 90—year—olds. 0h, an amazing day, yes. i never really imagined that i'd meet her. i never imagined i'd be 90, let's face it! she was in the bombing of london, so was i. she was evacuated, so was i. and then she was called up, and so was i. this was a birthday celebration, but also a public tha

daniela relph looks back on the momentous occasion and other events in the royal calendar in review 2016

daniela relph has the story. he looked as though he couldn't quite believe he had done it.oment thomas coville truly knew the weeks of long, lonely, gruelling days were over. on the quayside, hundreds out to welcome him back. 49 days after he left on his round the world trip. family, friends and others who had made thisjourney family, friends and others who had made this journey possible. addressing the crowd, he said he had felt an intense and deep joy. addressing the crowd, he said he had felt an intense and deepjoy. he told them he had tried, he had dead, he had never given up and today it had worked out. it was thomas coville's fifth attempt at breaking the record. alone in his vote he had rarely slept for more than three hours at a time. his solo route around the world had taken him from brest, past the cape of good hope and cape horn. he travelled around 52,000 kilometres and had been lucky with unusually good weather. thomas coville had devoted the past ten yea rs of coville had devoted the past ten years of his life to breaking this record, but he didn'tjust break i

that is 2016, the world year, with me, daniela relph. —— the royal year.evening and welcome to bbc news. the us president barack obama has authorised a series of sanctions against russia for intervening in the 2016 us presidential election. america is expelling 35 diplomats. and officials of the action was a response to the harassment of american diplomats in moscow. president obama warned of more action to come, saying in a statement, "these actions follow repeated private and public warnings that we have issued to the russian government, and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm us interests in violation of established international norms of behaviour." a report on alleged russian interference during the us election is to be presented soon. the russian foreign ministry tonight described the move as counter—productive. there is more on that statement from the state department that we have received in the last few minutes. it is adding context as to why these expulsions have taken place. it says the state department of these actions a

daniela relph looks back at her life. what is she? she's a vegetarian, nana. 0h! nana speakman. liz smith was the eccentric, loveable centre of the royle family. very unusual taste! i put in a bit of ta—ra—sa—la—ma—ta as well! in the vicar of dibley, more of her perfect comic timing. happy birthday, frank. do you want to put me in a home? success came late for liz smith. a single mother of two children in a series of part—time jobs, she didn't start acting properly until she was 50. what a nuisance for you. it was like a wonderful realisation that at last i was being given a chance. it had come. it had come at last. last night. what was it? what was what? that cheese. it was cheese. i know it was flaming cheese! she owed that first acting role to the director mike leigh. she loved being batty old ladies, because in a way she was a batty old lady, except that underneath the eccentricity she was a really focussed person, but she loved it. the more eccentric, the better. she adored being a bonkers person. does this thing play cassettes as well? she may have started l

that is review 2016, the royal year with me, daniela relph. good morning and welcome to bbc news. of the biggest stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, george michael, has died. he was 53, and is believed to have had heart failure. he rose to fame as one half of the group wham! and went on to have a successful solo career. he sold 100 million albums worldwide and had 11 uk number ones. nick quraishi looks back at his life. # you put the boom boom into my heart #... suntans, bleached hair and upbeat songs propelled wham! to number one around the world. they even conquered china. # last christmas i gave you my heart # but the very next day you gave it away #... their most famous song heard every year will now have added poignancy. born georgios kyriacos panayiotou in north london, george michael was 12 years old when he met andrew ridgeley. they left school at 16 and set up wham! in1981. # time can never mend a careless whisper #... his biggest hit, careless whisper, came in 1984 but was written and produced when he wasjust 17. three years later, his solo album, faith, marked a shift from teen

daniela relph looks back at her life. what is she? she's a vegetarian, nana. 0h!barbara? the unforgettable nana speakman. liz smith was the eccentric, loveable centre of the royle family. very unusual taste! i put in a bit of ta—ra—sa—la—ma—ta as well! in the vicar of dibley, more of her perfect comic timing. happy birthday, frank. do you want to put me in a home? success came late for liz smith. a single mother of two children in a series of part—time jobs, she didn't start acting properly until she was 50. what a nuisance for you. it was like a wonderful realisation that at last i was being given a chance. it had come. it had come at last. last night. what was it? what was what? that cheese. it was cheese. i know it was flaming cheese! she owed that first acting role to the director mike leigh. she loved being batty old ladies, because in a way she was a batty old lady, except that underneath the eccentricity she was a really focussed person, but she loved it. the more eccentric, the better. she adored being a bonkers person. does this thing play cassettes as we

daniela relph looks back at her life. what is she? she is a vegetarian. the royle family. very unusual taste. the eccentric, lovable centre of the royle family. very unusualtaste. i put ina royle family. very unusualtaste. i put in a bit of taramasalata as well. in the vicar of dibley, more of her comic timing. wonderful birthday, frank. success came late for liz smith, a successful single mother of two children, had a series of part—timejobs mother of two children, had a series of part—time jobs and mother of two children, had a series of part—timejobs and did not mother of two children, had a series of part—time jobs and did not start acting seriously until she was 50. it was like a wonderful realisation that at last, i was being given a chance. it had come. it had come at last. what was it. what was what? it was cheese. she owed the first acting role to the director, mike lee. she loved playing batty old ladies. because she was a batty old lady, but underneath she was really focused person. but she loved it, the more eccentric the better. she adored be