Young people from working-class backgrounds are being “blocked” from entering the creative industries, which remain “elitist” and inaccessible, according to research.

A report from the Sutton Trust found stark overrepresentation in the arts for those from the most affluent backgrounds, which it defines as those from “upper middle-class backgrounds”.

About 7% of people educated in the UK attend private fee-paying schools. However, 43% of Britain’s best-selling classical musicians and 35% of Bafta-nominated actors are alumni of private schools.

Additionally, more than half (58%) of classical musicians have attended an arts specialist university or conservatoire, and one in four attended the Royal Academy of Music for undergraduate study. These institutions are dominated by students from the most affluent backgrounds. Twelve per cent of classical musicians attended Oxford or Cambridge.

Among the top actors, 64% have attended university, with 29% attending specialist arts institutions (including conservatoires). A total of 9% attended Oxbridge and a further 6% attended other Russell Group institutions.

However, pop stars appear to better reflect the educational backgrounds of the UK population, with only 8% privately educated and 20% university-educated, both close to the national averages.

The report said: “There are clear class inequalities in creative higher education and the creative workforce, with high-profile creative figures in fields like television more likely to have attended private school and university than the population overall …

“It also means many talented young people from poorer homes are blocked from highly sought after careers in the arts.”

The charity said access to creative degrees in subjects such as music and art was skewed towards those from upper middle-class backgrounds at the most prestigious institutions. At four universities – Oxford, Cambridge, King’s College London and Bath – more than half of students on creative courses come from the most elite upper middle-class backgrounds.

The universities with the lowest proportions of creative students from working-class backgrounds are Cambridge and Bath (4%), Oxford and Bristol (5%), and Manchester (7%).

There is also a significant class divide in specialist institutions, such as conservatoires and higher education institutions specialising in music and the performing arts. The Royal Academy of Music (60%), Royal College of Music (56%), Durham (48%), King’s College London (46%) and Bath (42%) all have high proportions of privately educated students studying creative subjects. All of these institutions have higher proportions of privately educated creative students than Oxbridge (32%).

The trust called for a range of measures to improve access to the arts. These included introducing an “arts premium” so schools could pay for arts opportunities such as music lessons, and ensuring that conservatoires and creative arts institutions that received state funding were banned from charging for auditions. It also suggested socioeconomic inclusion should be a condition of employers receiving arts funding, and that unpaid internships lasting more than four weeks should be banned.

The trust, which champions social mobility from birth to the workplace, added that the wider value of creative degrees should be taken into account when making funding and policy decisions for the higher education sector. It said measuring the quality of creative degree programmes on graduate earnings alone did not take into account the nature of the sector, with its prevalence of freelance work and unpaid internships.

It is developing a partnership with the British Screen Forum, which aims to address socioeconomic diversity through targeted skills and career initiatives.

Nick Harrison, the chief executive of the trust, said: “It’s a tragedy that young people from working-class backgrounds are the least likely to study creative arts degrees, or break into the creative professions. These sectors bear the hallmarks of being elitist – those from upper middle-class backgrounds, and the privately educated are significantly over-represented.”

Harrison said Britain’s creative sector was admired around the world, but no young person “should be held back from reaching their full potential, or from pursuing their interests and dream career, due to their socioeconomic background”.

He said it was “essential that action is taken to ensure access to high quality creative education in schools, and to tackle financial barriers to accessing creative courses and workplace opportunities”.

THE CROWN star Imelda Staunton got royal approval as she was made a Dame by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle.

The 68-year-old, who earned Bafta TV and Golden Globe nominations for the role in Netflix’s hit drama The Crown, was honoured for her services to drama and charity by Prince William yesterday.

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She is also known for playing the evil Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films, with her other film credits also including Downton Abbey, Paddington and Nanny McPhee.

Asked if it felt surreal to be recognised with her damehood by Charles in the King’s Birthday Honours having played his mother, Dame Imelda said: “It was a huge privilege. That was two years of filming, and I absolutely adored it.

“It was of course devastating when Her Majesty died – we were filming as well, it was tricky.”

Dame Imelda starred as the former monarch in the fifth and sixth series of the royal drama.

She joined Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon, former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder turned pundit Graeme Souness, plus M People lead singer Heather Small as well as X Factor’s Rebecca Ferguson at the gong ceremony. 

Graeme Souness has said fundraising for a charity has allowed people to see “the real me” as he was made a CBE at Windsor Castle.

Souness, who represented his country at three World Cups and won five league titles and three European Cups with the Reds, was honoured for his services to football and charity with a CBE.

Le Bon and Heather Small were both made an MBE.

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Barney & Friends musical director Bob Singleton has revealed he received multiple “horrible” death threats over the infectious songs featured in the show.

The children’s show, which was led by a singing purple dinosaur named Barney, was a major hit from 1992 to 2010.

Speaking on a new episode of the podcast Generation Barney, Singleton recalled that the show’s critical acclaim was matched by disturbing feedback from viewers.

“When I was nominated for a Grammy, a local talk radio station said, ‘Hey, this is great,’” he said. “Then someone called in and said, ‘I wish I could get my hands around the neck of that guy. I would just, I would really like to take him out.’”

The rise of the internet made it even easier for disgruntled viewers to contact and threaten Singleton.

“My email address was out there, and I was getting people sending me emails… that [were] threatening me and my family with horrible, horrible death and dismemberment and terrible things,” said the producer and composer.

“It was frightening. I remember going to a luncheon once and they’ve got us sat at a table. I said I had been the music director on Barney and this one guy – and I’m sure he was well-meaning – said ‘Wow, my kids loved you but I just wanted to kill you.’

“In that moment, I have to think, ‘Okay, is this somebody that I need to watch for in the parking lot, you know?’ Or is he just, is that just his way of going, ‘My kids liked it, I didn’t’. So, it was awkward.”

In 2022, the documentary I Love You, You Hate Me explored why so many adults despised Barney.

The Independent’s Eloise Hendy wrote about some of the more lurid stories included in the documentary, asking: “Did you know it’s believed that the Pentagon used Barney music as a torture device, forcing prisoners to listen to his saccharine and relentlessly peppy theme song for 24 hours straight?

“Did you know that the son of Sheryl Leach, one of the show’s creators, once shot his neighbor multiple times in the chest? Or that one of the very first websites in existence was named ‘alt.dinosaur.Barney.die.die.die’? Or that there was once a roleplaying game called ‘The Jihad to Destroy Barney,’ supposedly dedicated to the ‘general eradication of Barney the Dinosaur from television airwaves, the internet, all media, and the face of the Earth?’”

MARRIED At First Sight viewers tonight slammed “selfish” Sacha for “making Ross choose between his daughter and her”.

It comes just hours after the Brummie bride lashed out at E4 bosses for “doing her dirty” with the edit for the final vows.

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Sacha previously said her marriage would be over if Ross didn’t move to her hometown Walsall.

When it comes to where they’ll settle together after the experiment, Ross had reservations as his daughter, Blue, is currently living in Manchester and he didn’t want to be too far away from her.

But tonight fans were left fuming when Sacha burst into tears as Ross talked about needing to be close to his daughter, during their final vows.

Before he could finish what he was saying, the bride ran off and was seen crying hysterically.

Fans took to social media to share their dismay at her reaction.

One wrote: “Sacha and her family, are incredibly selfish with their demands that Ross should move there.

“Absolutely no thought for his very young daughter!”

While another tweeted: “Am I the only one that thinks Sacha is so selfish, making Ross move away from his daughter because she can’t be away from her dad, so selfish.”

This one added: “I’m sorry but Sacha is so selfish he can’t just leave his daughter?”

However, Sacha need not have worried as when she returned from crying, Ross said he would move to Walsall.

Before tonight’s episode was aired, Sacha revealed that there was a part of the scene that has been cut – as she dropped a major spoiler.

It came after the scene was teased at the end of last night’s episode of MAFS.

Sharing her frustration on social media, Sacha wrote: “OMG already fuming with the edit for final vows.”

She then shared: “I can’t write here now why I was crying but it was to do with them ruining a surprise I had for Ross.

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“As if they’ve done me that dirty.”

She also captioned her post: “Absolutely disgusting they’d do that to me.

Sacha insisted she’d explain what exactly happened after the episode airs tonight.

The reality star then posted an Instagram story where she vented at the producers.

She furiously added: “I am seething, I want to swear so bad. How dare they make it look like I was crying over something to do with what Ross was saying.

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“No no no no no…they ruined something for me, a surprise I had for Ross right before the vows and they’ve edited to make it look like I was crying about Walsall.

“They’ve done me dirty, how false and fake and ridiculous and a complete lie that edit is.

“I didn’t think they were that bad, but they are that bad.”

Fans were previously left shocked to learn that the distance between where the two lived wasn’t a long journey.

It came when they discovered that Walsall and Manchester is only about an hour-and-a-half drive down the motorway from each other.

However despite all of this, it has been revealed how the couple split – two weeks after filming wrapped.

A source told MailOnline: “Sacha had an incredible experience filming Married At First Sight UK and she truly thought her marriage with Ross would work.

“She moved to Manchester to be with him but after just two weeks he went cold and ended their romance for good

“Sacha was devastated and now watching their journey back as the show airs makes processing their breakup even harder.

“Producers weren’t happy either… Ross gave away that he and Sacha were no longer together by posting photos with his new girlfriend – he had no problem flaunting his romance despite the fact it would hurt his ex-wife’s feelings.”

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Elon Musk has spoken out amid claims he made Chloe Fineman cry on the set of Saturday Night Live.

In a now-deleted TikTok post, the 36-year-old comedian said the Tesla CEO upset her when he hosted the comedy sketch series in 2021. According to Fineman, she had pulled an all-nighter during the week Musk was hosting the show. When she presented her sketch to Musk, he allegedly critiqued her writing and told her he wasn’t the least bit amused.

“You made I, Chloe Fineman, burst into tears because I stayed up all night writing a sketch. I was so excited,” she said in the video. “I came in, I asked if you had any questions, and you stared at me like you were firing me from Tesla and were like, ‘It’s not funny.’”

Fineman initially thought the SpaceX owner was joking, and waited for him to say he actually loved the sketch. Instead, Musk further criticized her work.

“I waited for you to be like, ‘Haha, JK.’ No. Then you started pawing through my script, flipping each page, being like, ‘I didn’t laugh once. Not one time,’” she said.

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One day after Fineman shared and deleted the video from her TikTok page, Musk took to X/Twitter to indirectly address her accusations. The billionaire businessman offered his side of the story, without calling out Fineman for bringing their alleged conversation online.

“Frankly, it was only on the Thursday before the Saturday that ANY of the sketches generated laughs. I was worried,” Musk wrote on November 12.

“I was like damn my SNL appearance is going to be so f***ing unfunny that it will make a crackhead sober,” he said. “But then it worked out in the end.”

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Musk also responded to one X/Twitter user who wrote about Fineman: “She’s a professional comedy writer who cries when someone doesn’t think her jokes are funny? That’s funny.”

“Seriously,” Musk replied, along with a straight face amoji.

On November 9, SNL sarcastically praised the results of the 2024 U.S. election, which saw Donald Trump defeat Vice President Kamala Harris, in its first post-election show. During the cold open, comedian Dana Carvey impersonated the tech tycoon jumping for joy in a “Make America Great Again” hat, much like he did at Trump’s October 5 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Check it out, dark MAGA,” Carvey said, flailing his arms in the air and pointing to his hat.

While many fans found Carvey’s take on Musk to be frighteningly accurate, Musk was once again not amused. Under a clip from the show on X/Twitter, he wrote: “Dana Carvey just sounds like Dana Carvey.”

Musk also said: “They are so mad that @realDonaldTrump won.”

Fineman’s claims come after fellow cast member Bowen Yang revealed on Watch What Happens Live that one former host made “multiple” castmates cry before the table read “because he hated the ideas.”

At the time, Yang did not reveal who the SNL host was.

SHIRLEY Ballas today hit out AGAIN after being cruelly trolled amid an on-going fix row.

It comes as the head judge, 60, fueled speculation she might quit Strictly Come Dancing, following backlash from fans.

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The speculation comes after Shirley responded to criticism on social media, addressing negative comments about her judging.

Her recent remarks suggest frustration with the ongoing scrutiny and trolling she has faced, sparking concerns she may choose to quit.

Today she posted an Instagram video where she thanked fans, after she had been cruelly trolled.

Speaking from a hotel in Gibraltar, Shirley said: “Hi everyone, I’m currently in Gibraltar for a couple of days, promoting my new book. I’m going to see the Rock of Gibraltar and all the monkeys, I’m excited about that.

“But I’m mainly on today because I wanted to thank you all for reaching out with your beautiful messages.

“For you know, for the handful of vitriol and awful messages I got, I got thousands of supporting messages and that really made my day.

“So I appreciate that. Anyway, I’m looking forward to Blackpool next week.

“I shall be doing a book event at the Winter Gardens on Friday and then we’ll have the competition on Saturday in the Tower Ballroom.

“So I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of you outside that stand and want to say hello.

“But again, you know, hugs from me to you because you sure made me feel better this week.

“To each and every one of you that understand the show, I love you. Take care.”

The backlash against Shirley came after Strictly Come Dancing said goodbye to Shayne Ward on Sunday when he became the seventh celebrity to be axed on Sunday night.

The former X Factor star went up against GoCompare star Wynne Evans and Katya Jones during Sunday’s results show.

Both couples performed their routines again, with Shayne and Nancy Xu dancing their rumba to Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper.

Then, Wynne and Katya performed their American smooth to Grace Kelly by Mika.

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After both couples had danced a second time, the judges delivered their verdicts.

Both Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse chose to save Shayne and Nancy.

But Anton Du Beke opted for Wynne and Katya.

With two votes in favour of Shayne and Nancy, the decision on who would stay came down to Shirley, who decided to save Wynne and Katya.

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As Head Judge, Shirley’s was the deciding vote, meaning that Shayne and Nancy would be leaving the competition.

Some fans have blasted Shirley for having favourites in the dancing competition.

Taking to X, one fan wrote: “Can we start a petition to get Shirley off this show, she doesn’t even bother trying to conceal her favouritism anymore and she’s head judge?? It’s just not fair on the other contestants #strictly.”

Shirley jokingly replied: “Where do I sign lol. Night night. X”

Some fans disagreed: “The right one was voted off!! Shirley is brilliant!”

Others suggested: “I do think in that situation, two each, they should revert to the public vote, i.e whoever got most goes through.”

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6:45pm on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.

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