Jon Brown, resident movie critic at Portsmouth radio station Express FM, sat down with three-time Olivier award-winning British stage and screen legend Roger Allam and wonderful film director John Jenks to talk about their latest project: a film adaptation of comedy icon Stephen Fry's brilliantly funny novel, The Hippopotamus.
Portsmouth's very own radio station, Express FM, offers an in-depth look at this week's biggest release, courtesy of movie critic Jon Brown: Disney's latest animation-to-live action adaptation, Beauty and the Beast.
Love Southsea have teamed up with Lulu's old school — Mayville High School Southsea — to visit local tourist attractions, museums, and art spaces, giving pupils the opportunity to meet and interview Portsmouth influencers.
On 27th January, we (Daisy, Katelan, Tabitha, and Izzy) were asked by Love Southsea to go to the Shaping Portsmouth conference, to interview a few people about their work and jobs within Portsmouth. We were also lucky enough to stay for the presentations, which were very inspiring. We took notes, asked questions, and became journalists for the day.
The Shaping Portsmouth conference was held at the Pyramids Centre in Southsea, and the topic of 2017's discussion was sustainability. When we arrived, we were originally quite intimidated! The small hall was full of people and promotional stalls, with eager entrepreneurs keen to showcase their businesses.
These were only a fraction of the businesses in attending — everyone showcasing their work at the conference played a hand in shaping Portsmouth into an ever-evolving and -bettering city.
We all sat down at our round table — complimentary cookies in hand! — and took notes while listening to the talks. Katelan and Tabitha took the lead on note-taking and interviewing.
Each speaker offered unique and innovative ideas, speaking about what they had been doing and what they wished to accomplish.
Walter Cha, the Chair of Shaping Portsmouth, opened the conference, and highlighted the importance of the day's speakers and what they wished to accomplish, noting economic prosperity as a key goal.
This led to the first speaker of the day taking to the stage: Peter Gunn, the Chief Executive of BH Live. BH Live is a charitable trust founded in 2010, who aim to make people more active by going to gyms, swimming pool, and parks.
Peter said that by opening people up to the idea of having fun while exercising, he feels lifestyles in Portsmouth will improve, while strengthening tourism and, subsequently, the economy.
Other speakers on the day's programme included Cheryl Buggy — former Chair of Shaping Portsmouth — and Portsmouth's Poet Laureate Sam Cox.