Doolittle’s real name is Eliza Sophie Caird

Pop singer Eliza Doolittle scored her first ever top 20 single on Sunday with Pack Up, a lilting summer groove based around the music-hall tune Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag.

With a sunny disposition and a cor blimey accent, the 21-year-old sounds like her Pygmalion namesake covering the hits of Lily Allen.

In reality, she comes from a prestigious theatrical background. Her father is RSC director John Caird, her mother is Les Mis star Frances Ruffelle, and her grandmother is Sylvia Young.

But she took an early decision to quit the family business and pursue a career in pop, as she told the BBC.

Hello, Eliza, how are you today?

I'm in Ireland for the Oxegen festival and I seem to have lost all my crew, but I'm doing good!

You're named after a character in a play, your parents live and breathe the theatre, so why are you slumming it in a muddy field singing pop songs?

The singer co-wrote all the tracks on her debut album

I did a little bit of theatre when I was younger. Small roles here and there. But I got bored of doing the same things eight times a week. I wanted every day to be a different day.

What age were you when you started singing?

I was always singing, whether it was in the car or at school plays. Then, when I was 12, I realised I was going to have to get a job of some kind, so I said, "well, I'll have to become a singer, then". And I just went for it straight away.

I started writing and as soon as I had a few songs under my belt, I started gigging.

How do you go about writing a song?

I tend to write at the piano but usually the melody and the lyrics come first.

Doolittle says she won’t follow her mother into the Eurovision Song Contest

Like, I'll be in the shower and I'll start singing and the melody and the lyric will just come out. Then I'll quickly try to finish the shower, try to remember it, record it on my phone and save it for the studio.

Do you ever listen back to something you've recorded on your phone and think "what on earth is that?!"

Oh, all the time! But it's good to get those ideas down – because one of them might be a smash hit, and you don't want to lose it.

How did Pack Up come about?

That was more studio-based because, at the time, I was in the studio nearly every day. There were ideas flying about all the time, so we just got cracking with that one.

Where did you get the idea of sampling Pack Up Your Troubles?

It's not actually a sample – it's my friend Lloyd singing! We just took the lyric from the old wartime song, and we changed the melody a little bit. We also changed the lyric from "smile, smile, smile" to "bury them beneath the sea".

But I like that everyone thinks it's a sample. It gives it that old, retro kind of vibe.

I'm not surprised people think it's a sample – he has a really authentic Louis Armstrong-type voice. Does he have his own band?

The singer was raised in Camden, north London

He's a session singer. He went on tour with Take That and he does a lot of gospel stuff. He's got the best voice I've heard for a while.

The video is sun-kissed and bleached out. Where did you film it?

It was in Jamaica and, oh my God, the food was amazing! I'm vegetarian so I didn't have any jerk chicken or anything, but I did have some bean soup, and jerk vegetarian wraps and stuff. It was so yummy!

Was it easy to get work done out there? The island has a reputation for being very relaxed.

That's what I had heard, too, but it wasn't like that at all. Everyone was really on it. They were working hard, really fast.

Now, what's this I hear about you being a big poker player?

I love poker! I got into it through a couple of my friends who used to play tournament games for fivers. I'm not the best at it, to be honest.

What's the biggest wipe-out you've had?

Two hundred.

Two hundred pounds?

Yes… But that was the only time I'd ever been to a casino and it was really difficult. The buy-ins were like £1 every time, so it went really quickly. I just got wiped out straight away.

How did you feel when you walked away?

Terrible! I just thought, "I could buy an amazing outfit with that money but… oh well".

Finally, if you could pack up one trouble into your kit bag and get rid of it forever – what would it be?

I'm always worried about my friends and family being unhealthy. So I'd take all the illnesses in the world, put them in the bag and chuck them away.

Eliza Doolittle's single, Pack Up, and her self-titled album are both out now on Parlophone Records.

In 2006 a leaked police report quoted Gibson making anti-Semitic comments

US police have said they are evaluating claims that Hollywood star Mel Gibson allegedly hit his ex-girlfriend.

A recording, which a US website claims was Gibson on the phone to Oksana Grigorieva, has emerged. He is allegedly heard verbally abusing her.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said officers will "review" the recordings as part of an investigation.

A spokesman for Gibson has declined to comment on the claims.

"Anything that is connected to the case we will investigate," Mr Whitmore said.

Last week, RadarOnline.com posted a recording which it claimed was Gibson.

A man can be heard telling Grigorieva he thought she was dressing too provocatively using explicit and offensive language.

The former couple are currently battling each other for custody of their 8-month-old daughter.

In 2006 a leaked police report quoted Gibson making anti-Semitic comments to a Jewish police officer, who was arresting him for drink driving.

The director was taken into custody in Switzerland in September 2009

The US has said it is "disappointed" by Switzerland's decision not to extradite the film director, Roman Polanski.

A state department spokesman said it would continue to seek Mr Polanski's arrest and extradition on charges he had sex with an underage girl in 1977.

"We have not forgotten about this case," Philip Crowley told reporters.

The Swiss justice ministry said the US had not made a convincing argument for Polanski's extradition since he was arrested last year and he was now free.

After the ruling, Polanski paid "massive thanks" to his supporters.

"I simply want, from the bottom of my heart, to thank all those who supported me," the Polish-born French filmmaker said in a statement.

He also reportedly left his chalet in the Alpine resort of Gstaad, where he had been held under house arrest for eight months

‘Disservice to justice’

On Monday, Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf announced that "the measures taken to restrict the freedom of Mr Polanski" had been lifted.

"Mr Polanski can now move freely. He's a free man," she said, adding that it was "not about deciding whether he is guilty or not guilty".

The Swiss justice ministry said it was impossible to rule out "a fault in the US extradition request".

The US had failed to disprove Polanski's argument that he fled before sentencing in 1978 because he believed the judge would renege on a plea agreement, it added.

But speaking to reporters in Washington later, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the US questioned the decision.

"The rape of a 13-year-old girl by an adult who should know better and does know better is a crime," he said. "We will continue to seek justice in this case and we will evaluate our options."

"We think it sends a very important message regarding how women and girls are treated around the world," he added. "To push this case aside based on technicalities we think is regrettable."

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley called the decision a "disservice to justice and other victims as a whole" and said Polanski could be arrested if he travelled to another country.

Polanski has now reportedly left his chalet in the Swiss Alps

"To justify their finding to deny extradition on an issue that is unique to California law regarding conditional examination of a potentially unavailable witness is a rejection of the competency of the California courts," he said.

"The Swiss could not have found a smaller hook on which to hang their hat."

Polanski was originally charged with six offences including rape and sodomy over the 1977 case. In 1978, he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex following a plea bargain. He served 42 days in prison.

He has always maintained he was promised a short sentence, but he fled the US after hearing rumours that the judge was about to re-sentence him for a much longer term. He has never returned.

The director was taken into custody in Switzerland in September while collecting a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Polanski, whose films include Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist, was moved from prison and placed under house arrest at Gstaad in early December.

Switzerland said the US could not appeal against its decision.

Morpurgo’s War Horse is being made for the big screen by Steven Spielberg

The author Michael Morpurgo has said he welcomes the idea of children accessing stories through mobile devices instead of books.

But the former children's laureate said it was "critical" that technology – such as novels on mobiles – should not be only available to the privileged few.

"When one talks about books what we really mean is stories. We don't actually mean the physical page which is how we've accessed it for hundreds of years," he said.

Morpurgo has written more than 100 books including Private Peaceful and War Horse – which was turned into a hit West End play. It is about to be made for the big screen by Steven Spielberg.

"Technology is telling us there are other ways of doing this which are every bit as interesting and which the new generation of readers are really taking to – that's fine," the author said.

Story telling

He added that it was important that the technology was as widely available as books.

"That's pretty critical to me. One thing I would never want is to see our libraries close, or that access is only available to those who have fancy machines. That would be retrograde, but I don't think that's what happening."

Morpurgo described technology as an "add-on".

"I remember when television came along everyone said no-one's ever going to read a book again – not true. People said the same when videos and DVDs came along."

Would he mind one of his books appearing as a mobile phone application?

"I wouldn't mind at all, any more than I'd mind it being a movie," he said.

"We have to remember stories were never written down in the first place. Books shouldn't be considered holy texts. When people first came across stories we simply told them. We've gone a long way from the oral tradition – that's probably a mistake.

"It somehow has separated our stories from people and I think if technology can bring them closer then that's great."

Morpurgo was the Children's Laureate in 2003-2005. A stage version of his novel Farm Boy opens at the Edinburgh Festival on 5 August.

Walters will rejoin The View in September

Veteran US TV host Barbara Walters has said she is "fully recovered" just two months after open heart surgery.

Walters made her first TV appearance since she underwent the procedure to replace a faulty valve in May.

In a special broadcast from her New York apartment, she told her fellow panelists on The View she was never in serious discomfort from the surgery.

Walters, 80, said she will take the rest of the summer off before rejoining The View in September.

Walters is one of the best-known personalities on US TV news.

She started out on the Today morning news show in the 60s, and became the first woman to anchor a network evening news programme in 1976.

During her career, she has interviewed Fidel Castro, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Michael Jackson, several US presidents and scores of other world figures.

In 1997 she created the daily round-table talk show The View.

Her current co-hosts are Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd.

Polanski has now reportedly left his chalet in the Swiss Alps

Authorities in Switzerland have decided not to extradite film director Roman Polanski to the US to face sentencing for a case dating back to 1977.

Polanski, aged 76, has been under house arrest in his Swiss chalet since December 2009 pending the decision.

The filmmaker is wanted in California over a conviction for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The US was "deeply disappointed" with the decision, a senior justice department official said.

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's office, which had sought to have Polanski returned to Los Angeles, was also expected to issue a formal statement shortly.

After the Swiss ruling, Polanski paid "massive thanks" to his supporters.

"I simply want, from the bottom of my heart, to thank all those who supported me and tell them today of my great satisfaction," the Polish-born French filmmaker said in a statement released to the AFP news agency by his lawyer Herve Temime.

Polanski also reportedly left his luxurious Alpine chalet in the resort of Gstaad for an unknown destination.

‘National interests’

Earlier on Monday, Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said "the measures taken to restrict the freedom of Mr Polanski have already been lifted, the electronic tag has been removed".

The justice ministry said that the US authorities had failed to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's original sentencing procedure.

"The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a fault in the US extraditionary request."

Polanski was originally charged with six offences including rape and sodomy over the 1977 case.

In 1978, he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex following a plea bargain. He served 42 days in a US prison.

He has always maintained he was promised a short sentence, but he fled the US after hearing rumours that the judge was about to re-sentence him for a much longer term. He has never returned to the US.

On Monday, the Swiss said that the US authorities simply had not clarified the issue of length of sentence and therefore had not made a convincing case for extradition.

The justice ministry added that that national interests were taken into consideration in the decision.

A Swiss official said the US cannot appeal the decision.

‘Overjoyed’

Polanski was taken into custody in Switzerland in September last year as he travelled from France to collect a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival.

Polanski, whose films include Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist, was moved from prison and placed under house arrest at Gstaad in early December.

Polanski's wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, said she was overjoyed at the decision.

She said: "It is with great pleasure that I have just learned of my husband's release. For me and for my children it is the end of a nightmare that has lasted more than nine months.

"I am really looking forward to being able to make plans and to once again have a normal family life, especially with my children, who did not deserve this suffering," she added in a statement.

Polanski's release was also welcomed by French politicians and artists.

"The great Franco-Polish director will from now on be able to rejoin his friends and family and work fully on his artistic projects," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

The Polish foreign ministry also welcomed the Swiss decision.

The Prodigy is fronted by Keith Flint

The Prodigy have been named the most influential act of their genre in a new poll.

The electronic dance music group – whose hits include Breathe, Firestarter and Voodoo People – topped the survey by GlobalGathering.

The dance music festival, now in its tenth year, commissioned the research to find out which artist has shaped the dance music genre the most.

The Prodigy have sold more than 20 million records worldwide since 1990.

Recognition

They topped the poll with 29% of the vote, ahead of French dance outfit Daft Punk, and Faithless who were in third place.

Other acts in the top 10 included Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and Carl Cox.

GlobalGathering festival organiser James Algate said: "Dance music is constantly evolving but it's great to see The Prodigy getting the recognition they so richly deserve."

The festival sees around 50,000 electronic dance music lovers descend on Warwickshire each year.

Faithless and Dizzee Rascal are set to headline this year's event on 30 and 31 July.

Steve Carell, Dame Julie Andrews and Russell Brand all voice characters

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has been knocked off the top of the North American box office after one week by animated 3D film Despicable Me.

The new number one took $60.1m (£40.2m) while vampire sequel Eclipse took $33.4m (£22.3m), according to early studio estimates.

Despicable Me tells the story of a villain, voiced by Steve Carell, who plans to steal the moon.

Predators, an update of the 1987 sci-fi classic, opened in third place.

The original film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and topped the US box office in its first week of release while the reboot, which stars Laurence Fishburne and Adrien Brody as commandos being stalked in the jungle by alien predators, took $25.3m (£16.9m).

‘Studio win’

The makers of Despicable Me, which also features the voices of Russell Brand and Dame Julie Andrews, said the estimated $60.1m take had surpassed expectations.

"$30m would have been a win for the studio," Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, said.

He added: "I would never have said $50m-plus."

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has now made $237m (£158.2m) in its first 12 days and is expected to surpass the second film in the franchise, New Moon, which grossed $296.6m (£198m) last year.

"Twilight dropped less than 50% – that's impressive to me," said Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracker Hollywood.com.

"That's a really strong hold for a movie that, in its first day, made $68m (£45.4m)."

Jamaican singer and producer Sugar Minott has died at the age of 54.

His wife said he died at University Hospital, Kingston, but did not say how he died. He cancelled gigs in Canada in May because of chest pains.

The singer, real name Lincoln Barrington Minott, launched his career in the late 1960s as part of reggae trio The African Brothers.

He had a number four hit in the UK in March 1981 with Good Thing Going, a cover of a Michael Jackson song.

Minott launched a solo career in the 1970s and recorded for the famed Studio One label.

He built a following in the dancehalls of Jamaica and recorded songs including Vanity, Mr DC and House Is Not A Home.

He went on to nurture new talent with his own Black Roots and Youth Promotion labels.

Former Youth Promotion artist Junior Reid said: "Sugar Minott was a man who gave a lot of strength to the music although he got no love from the business."

A new album from Minott, New Day, is due to be released "soon", according to his website.

Agusti Vila also wrote the screenplay for The Mosquito Net

Spanish film-maker Agusti Vila has won the main prize at the Karlovy Vary film festival in the Czech Republic.

Vila collected the chief honour for his film The Mosquito Net, beating a field of 11 other contenders.

His film features Geraldine Chaplin, the actress daughter of movie legend Charlie Chaplin, in a silent rold as an Alzheimers sufferer.

Earlier in the week, actor Jude Law was at the spa town event to receive the festival president's award.

The star, whose major films include Sherlock Holmes and The Talented Mr Ripley, was given the honour in recognition of his career in film.

At the festival's main gala on Saturday night, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov and Czech film-maker Juraj Herz were presented with awards for their outstanding contributions to world cinema.