The National Portrait Gallery tries to secure painting of freed slave, and other top stories...

The National Portrait Gallery is hoping to prevent the export of what is thought to be the first British oil painting of a freed slave. William Hoare's painting was sold for almost £550,000 at a Christie's auction in December. Former culture minister Margaret Hodge has put a bar on the sale if The Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund and NPG are able to raise the extra £100,000 they need. The 1733 portrait of Gambian Ayuba Suleiman Diallo was the first to present an African subject as an individual and equal...

Now that we've got the culturally dogmatic spectacle that was Rage Against the Machine as Christmas number one out of the way, it's time to get on with the fun stuff. There is a Facebook campaign underway to get the recently deceased Frank Sidebottom to the top of the chart, with a double a-side single of his songs Who's Been on Match of the Day? and The Robins aren't Bobins. Meanwhile, the leftover funds raised for his funeral might be put towards a Frank Sidebottom statue in Timperley, his hometown. The head will cost a pretty penny...