Mireille Mathieu, the French singer known as the "Sparrow of Avignon," is on a farewell tour and is scheduled to perform in Frankfurt on Monday. Over more than six decades, she has sold around 190 million records and recorded some 1,200 songs in 11 languages. Raised in modest circumstances, she performed on East German television, on ZDF, in the United States, in China and on Red Square. She turned 80 this year.
German-Iranian writer Shida Bazyar, born in 1988, grew up in Hermeskeil in the Hunsrück region and used the town as the model for "Heimesbach" in her novel "Die Lücken." The book addresses the Nazi past and everyday life in what was once a "model village" of the Nazi era. This year she received the Bavarian Book Prize and the German Book Prize; on Saturday the Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize is to be added. Hermeskeil residents remember her as a child who loved reading and say they are proud of the multi-award-winning author.
Washington's mayoral election will be held alongside the US midterms on Tuesday. After three terms, Democrat Muriel Bowser is not running again. Janeese Lewis George, a 38-year-old lawyer and Democrat, is considered the favorite. She promises affordable housing, good jobs, childcare and a safer city. President Trump has called her a "communist" and threatened in advance to take Washington "back."
Wednesday marks exactly 25 years since the world premiere of the first Harry Potter film in London. An HBO series is due to continue the story, with its first season scheduled to start on Dec. 25, 2026, and possibly win a new generation of fans. For author Joanne K. Rowling, the 25 years since the film—or almost 30 since the first book—have included highs and lows. Her public stance on transgender rights has cast a shadow over the series, and calls for boycotts have accompanied her since then. The source says time is not healing wounds here but deepening the debate.
On Nov. 3, 1956, Bayerischer Rundfunk broadcast Germany's first television commercial, a 55-second black-and-white film titled "Mahlzeit" for Henkel's Persil brand. In the spot, Beppo Brem as the "husband" spills food in a restaurant, Liesl Karlstadt as his "wife" scolds him, and the innkeeper remains relaxed because Persil is available. Advertising professionals today describe the spot as modern in its approach, relying on storytelling and testimonials—techniques the industry still uses.
Sources: FAZ.