Four of Swords Theatre presents Gawain and the Green Knight: 17 - 21 December, Exeter Phoenix

Camelot is coming to the Exeter Phoenix in December and you are invited to attend an extravagant Christmas party hosted by King Arthur himself.

Four of Swords Theatre, fresh from the sell-out success of Jekyll and Hyde at Poltimore House, is presenting a new adaptation of the classic Arthurian legend, Gawain and the Green Knight.

The story starts in Camelot at Christmas time and spins into a sweeping tale of chivalry, romance, truth and temptation, featuring a gruesome game...

Pushing the envelope

“Pushing the envelope” is a phrase that originated with American test pilots like Chuck Yaeger and John Glenn in the 1940s. It described max stress situations for the metal skin (“envelope”) of a jet aircraft. In other words, the plane was designed to fly safely up to a certain speed for a certain distance at a certain altitude. The job of test pilots was to “push the envelope” by making the plane go faster, farther and higher. The term “pushing the envelope” came into popular parlance in the blockbuster book and movie (1983) “The Right Stuff.” Naturally, this...

The University of Exeter’s Children’s Health and Exercise Research Centre has announced its involvement in a three-year project to investigate the effects of exercise on children with congenital heart disease - one of the most common types of birth defects that affects up to nine in every 1,000 children born in the UK today.

The project is the first research study of its kind in the UK and involves a partnership between Toshiba Medical Systems Ltd, the University of Bristol, the University Hospital Bristols NHS Foundation Trust‘s Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRICBristol)...

Tributes have been paid to Exeter soldier Sapper Kieron Blight, who tragically died in a car crash on Monday evening.

Kieron was a passenger in a car which overturned and hit a tree. He died at the scene.

The driver of the car, a man from the Peterborough area, was taken to Salisbury District Hospital with serious head injuries.

Kieron, 19, was a serving engineer with the 26 Engineer regiment and had just returned from an operation in Canada.

Friends and colleges have paid tribute to the "cheery" soldier who had a "exciting future".

Lieutenant...

Local chartered accountants, Francis Clark has announced that TV personality and former Secretary of State Michael Portillo will be the keynote speaker at the firm’s second Finance in the South West seminar to be held in February 2014.

The seminar brings together the people representing funding and support streams potentially available to SMEs and includes presentations and participation from major providers of business funding and support, case studies, networking opportunities for owner/managers to ask “one-to-one” questions and coverage of grants, debt and equity.

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A ‘giant’ toadstool has appeared at a Devon nature reserve. Autumn is the season for toadstool spotting. So it wasn’t too surprising when Devon Wildlife Trust staff stumbled upon a group of Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) fungi at the charity’s Chudleigh Knighton Heath nature reserve, near Bovey Tracey . But the size of one of the toadstools caught Senior Nature Reserve Officer, Andy Bakere’s eye.

"At this time of year its common to see lots of different kinds of fungi on our nature reserves – they are one of the wonderful natural sights of autumn. But this individual fly agaric...

The majority shareholder of Exeter based airline Flybe has sold its entire shareholding.

The 48.1% stake owned by the Walker Family Trust through Rosedale Aviation Holdings Ltd was sold for £25.2m.

The move marks the end of a long standing relationship between the airline and the Walker family.

Late steel magnate and former owner of Blackburn Rovers Jack Walker bought the majority share of Jersey European airways in 1983, which was rebranded as Flybe in 2002.

The news comes after Monday’s announcement that Flybe will be cutting 500 jobs in a restructuring...

East Devon District Council's Community Development workers have taken their two youth groups on a series of horizon broadening day trips.

The first was a visit by 18 young people to a drama workshop in a studio at the University of Exeter. Six students and an experienced theatre facilitator helped the young people develop a piece of theatre that was performed to an audience at the end of the day.

The themes of the work were gang fighting and knife crime. The young people, who are from some of the most impoverished parts of East Devon, are familiar with these and that came...

Get your Christmas shopping off to a flying start at Knightshayes’ annual Christmas Craft and Food Fair on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 November, 10am-4pm. For the first time this year, a number of local food producers are displaying their delicious goodies, alongside a brilliant selection of hand-made crafts at the Victorian Gothic National Trust house near Tiverton. Elaine Vergette from Knightshayes, who is helping to organise the Fair, said: "We’ve run a successful Christmas Craft Fair here at Knightshayes for a few years now, but this year we’ve decided to focus on local, hand-made,...