It's been a jam-packed day of arts and entertainment news, and a pleasure to have you along for the ride. 

Stop by tomorrow when we'll know whether Westlife's Nicky Byrne has made it into the Eurovision Song Contest Final, representing Ireland. If that doesn't bring you back, we don't know what will! 

Image source, AFP

George Clooney has vowed that there will never be a President Trump. 

The star, who was speaking at a press conference in Cannes to promote his new movie Money Monster, earned a round of applause. 

Clooney was joined by co-star Julia Roberts and director Jodie Foster on the Croisette to promote the financial-themed thriller. 

Find out what our reporter, Neil Smith, thought, in his Cannes diary.

Image source, Getty Images

AMC and the BBC's six-part miniseries The Night Manager, will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime and Prime Video in the UK, US, and Japan from later this year.

Adapted from John le Carré’s 1993 spy novel, the show recently premiered in the US following a successful six-week run on BBC One.

Image source, PBS

This glazed redware jug, featuring six different faces, has become known as the 'grotesque face jug'.

Alvin Barr from South Carolina found it in a barn during an estate sale, covered in straw, dirt and chicken droppings. He paid $300 (£207) for it.

Barr was therefore very surprised when he took the jug to be appraised on the US version of Antiques Roadshow and it was compared to a work of Picasso and valued by expert appraiser Stephen Fletcher, at $50,000 (£35,000).

However, it was later revealed by a friend of the jug's creator - who had seen it on TV - that the vase was made for a high school ceramics project in the 1970s, by a teenager.

PBS has since corrected the face jug's details on its website, external, and revised its value to between $3000 (£2077) and $5000 (£3461).

How much would you pay for a grotesque face jug? Tweet us!

US rapper Azealia Banks has rolled back on her the racist rants against Zayn Malik which got her dropped from a UK festival line-up and insisted she was only trying "to make people think".

She had accused the former One Direction star of copying her style and used several racial and homophobic slurs in tweets which have since been deleted.

In a further tweet, which does contain some swearwords , externalshe said she had been "angry" and it looked to her like Zayn "felt as if he was too good to acknowledge me yet not to copy my creativity".

Her remarks had her thrown off the bill, external at London radio station Rinse FM's Born and Bred festival in Hackney.

Will her new tweets make amends?

Image source, Twitter / Dolly

Actor and TV presenter Robson Green has been involved in a dramatic cliff rescue.

He was filming in Clovelly, north Devon when a man in his 70s was found 60ft (18m) down the cliff.

The star heard his cries for help and tried to reach him before coastguards airlifted the man to safety.

His spokeswoman said he "only did what anyone else would have done in the circumstances" and did not consider himself a hero.

Local resident Sharon King, who saw the rescue, tweeted, external that Mr Green "went over the cliff to the casualty. No thought for himself. Lovely man!"

Mr Green's spokeswoman added: "He tried to get down to him but sadly he was too far down the cliff, so he called the coastguard who sent a rescue crew to bring the man to safety. All recognition should go to them."

A coastguard helicopter winched the man to safety. He was shaken but unhurt.

Daily Mirror

Image source, PA

Three of the Spice Girls have apparently been pictured at London’s Play Deep Studios, where they are reported to be working on previously unheard material.

According to The Mirror, external, Mel B, Emma and Geri are poised to release a new record later this year, exactly 20 years after Wannabe hit the chart.

Earlier this year, Geri commented on speculation about a Spice Girls reunion saying it will just be "the four of us" (minus Victoria, who is busy with her fashion line), adding there was nothing "definite or concrete".

So has Mel C now jumped ship too? Is it still the Spice Girls when two are missing? Worked okay for these guys we suppose...

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Marc Brenner

Following our earlier post, it has now been announced that Sheridan Smith will be taking a 2-4 week leave of absence from the West End production of Funny Girl, due to stress and exhaustion.

The show's producers said today:

If you've missed out on our live coverage of today's White Paper, why not check out the key points here. It's all you need to know.

And here's Robert Peston's two-penny's worth, external.

Here's what you've had to say about today's White Paper on the future of the BBC.

Our arts and media correspondent David Sillito took questions live on the BBC News Facebook page earlier today. To find out more, watch here., external

BBC correspondent Nick Higham has given his analysis on today's White Paper:

The BBC's critics, particularly its commercial rivals - newspapers foremost among them - will be disappointed: they'd hoped for more stringent measures to curb the corporation's ability to compete, especially online. In the Commons, the Shadow Culture Secretary, Maria Eagle, said most of what she called John Whittingdale's wilder proposals had been watered down or dumped and that he'd been overruled by the Prime Minister and Chancellor. If he was, that was perhaps to avoid a political row which might divide Conservatives in the run-up to the EU referendum.

Read more.

Commenting on its new role as regulator of the BBC, Ofcom said they would "work constructively with the Government, the BBC and the BBC Trust on next steps".

The Government has proposed closing the iPlayer loophole "meaning that those who watch BBC programmes on demand will now need a TV licence like everyone else", but few details have emerged as to how this will be done.

The white paper states that someone wanting to access the service would have to "verify" they are a licence fee payer, but did not go into how this process would be enforced.

 A spokesman at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the process would be up to the BBC, but suggested that typing in a licence fee number while logging on may be an option.

This process will also enable the BBC to make its content ‘portable’, so UK licence fee payers can access BBC iPlayer while on holiday in other EU member states.

Lord Hall has welcomed the proposals in the White Paper, including "a licence fee guaranteed for 11 years, and an endorsement of the scale and scope of what the BBC does today".

However responding to MP's questions, Whittingdale acknowledged that the existing licence fee model may become difficult to sustain in the future.

Responding to the White Paper, Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group, said it was "regrettable that the Government has ducked the opportunity for substantial reform of the regressive and arcane TV licence fee"

Following on from the white paper proposal to publish BBC stars with salaries over £450,000, Whittingdale agreed there was a "huge gulf" between the money spent on some salaries and services like local radio.

Mr Whittingdale said at his own local BBC station “the paint is peeling off the walls and they can barely afford a coffee maker”

“That’s why the government felt it right” to publish the salaries of people “who have substantial remuneration packages", he said.

“The public have a right to know."

Speaking outside the BBC's Broadcasting House, Wimbledon commentator Andrew Castle spoke up for the corporation.

BBC Director General Lord Hall has said the corporation had an "honest disagreement" with the Government over plans for the National Audit Office to scrutinise BBC spending and proposals for appointments to a new board, which he described as "not yet right". 

The BBC Trust will be abolished and replaced by a unitary board of up to 14, with the BBC responsible for appointing at least half of the members and the Government no more than six.

Rona Fairhead, current chair of the BBC Trust, said: "We recognise that the Government has moved, but we need to debate these issues to ensure the arrangements for the board achieve the correct balance of independence, public oversight and operational effectiveness. We believe there is more than enough time to get this right, and we will continue to discuss this with the Government."

Conservative minister Peter Heaton-Jones argued that "wIth the BBC’s income from the public now guaranteed to be approaching £4bn, there is no reason for it to make cuts to front-line services, and especially to BBC local radio".

Whittingdale agreed, saying he hoped the corporation "will continue to recognise the importance of local radio".

"I regard local radio as one of the things that best exemplifies the public service remit that the BBC has.

Similiarly Conservative minister Victoria Atkins asked what was being done to protect local newspapers.

Whittingdale agreed that local newspapers "play a vital role in sustaining local democracy. Therefore, I have sought to encourage the BBC to support them".

"I am delighted that an agreement has been reached between the BBC and the News Media Association... that represents the local press. They intend to fund 150 journalists who will be employed by qualifying news organisations, not the BBC."

Whittingdale has said the licence fee freeze will come to an end to give the corporation "the funding it needs".

He also confirmed the the government would seek to close the iPlayer "loophole" which allows people to watch the catch-up service without paying a licence fee - and address issues over non-payment of the licence fee.

The White Paper has proposed the BBC opens programme-making to greater competition.

Mr Whittingdale said: "The BBC already allows up to 50% of its content to be competed for by the independent sector. The Government now intends that the remaining 50% in-house guarantee should be removed for all BBC content, except news and related current affairs output.