WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Best of 2019: Art, music and theatre
OUTSTANDING: David Judge in Sparkplug
[Alex Mead/Decoy Media] 
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
AWAY from my home city of Manchester, this year I greatly enjoyed the colour and form of the wonderful New Times, New Pleasures exhibition of Fernand Leger’s work at Tate Liverpool and the new insights provided by Van Gogh in Britain at Tate Britain earlier in the year.
There was a great musical treat in the capital from the superb The Gloaming at the Union Chapel, a showcase of Irish traditional music at its very best. The band create an unusual sound by the harmonising of fiddle, guitar and piano with an overlay from the haunting voice of the exceptional Iarla O Lionaird.
For sheer spectacle it was hard to beat the version of the opera Carmen I saw in the ancient Roman arena in Verona.
More from this author
PAUL FOLEY welcomes a dramatic account of the men and women involved in the pivotal moment of the 5th Pan African Congress
PAUL FOLEY picks out an excellent example of theatre devised to start conversations about identity, class and belonging
PAUL FOLEY applauds a faultless musical that tells the tragic real-life story of working-class winners of the football pools
PAUL FOLEY is blown away by a Brazilian band at the top of their game
