IT was February, 1974, when 19-year-old heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in California by an urban guerilla group and held for ransom.

The old railway bridge loomed ever closer as the ship’s captain advised me: “Please mind your head sir.” I sensed it was only a precaution, but the underside of the bridge was a mere six inches above the top of my head as I stood on the top deck while we passed underneath.

TWO plays, Scaramouche Jones and Happy Days, will be performed as part of the Masque Theatre on tour mini-season during February. The productions will be staged at three venues in the Northampton area as part of its 80th Anniversary. Happy Days, by Samuel Beckett, introduces the audience to Winnie, a chatty, constantly sunny housewife who happens to be buried up to her waist in rubbish.

LEGENDARY German metallers Rammstein will be bring their acclaimed live act to the region this weekend.

Treat buying art as you would a new outfit and shop around, advises John Snape of Croft Wingates in Market Harborough.

Whether you have a head for heights or not, there’s nothing quite like rising high above London’s grim to get a bird’s-eye view of the capital.

WHEN the world watched in horror last year as Britain’s major cities were torn up and looted by rioters – many of them youths – questions started to be asked about the moral grounding of today’s society.

This week’s recipe of the week is from Adam Gray, co-owner of the award-winning Red Lion in East Haddon

SHOWSTOPPER! The Improvised Musical tours the UK this spring, and will visit Northampton’s Royal & Derngate for one night only on Thursday.

DESPITE writing about food, being highly interested in food and completely understanding the need for a balanced diet, my supermarket shopping trolley would probably not stand up to the scrutiny of a nutritionist.

After announcing their reformation in 2010 and playing a sold out UK tour and major festivals, Cast release their new album next month before heading to the region in April.

THERE’S a lot of TV these days featuring childbirth and motherhood, but has anybody delivered a better programme about the father’s side of that experience as well as Kira Phillips A Dad is Born: A Wonderland Film?

CHRIS Addison, star of BAFTA-winning comedy The Thick Of It and Oscar-nominated feature film In The Loop, returns to Northampton’s Royal & Derngate on Thursday as part of his new The Time is Now tour.

Isla St Clair headlines the Great kNight Folk Club on Tuesday.

Each year, the BBC’s Sound Of Poll picks some of the names it thinks will be shaping the UK’s music scene over the next year.

CHILDREN’S shows, comedy and dance are all on offer this season at the Lighthouse theatre in Kettering.

I ADORE food and love wine, but have never claimed to be an expert on either, writes Anna Brosnan.

FEW of us have much money to spend at the start of the year, but I’ve found a fantastic curry house that surely can’t be beaten on value.

Published in 2005, Jonathan Safran Foer’s second novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close revisited the deadliest act of terrorism committed on American soil through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy.

IF you were expecting the traditional Nutcracker ballet featuring Victorian festive opulence, battling mice and sweeties that are actually ‘sweet’; you’re not going to get it here.