The collection of 15 first-class stamps aims to highlight British contributions to the hit fantasy TV programme, based on the books by George R R Martin.

The US show has largely been filmed in Northern Ireland with a predominantly British and Irish cast.

Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Arya Stark are among 10 characters featured in the set, on sale later this month.

They are played by British stars Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and Maisie Williams.

The stamps also feature fellow British actors Lena Headey (who stars as Cersei Lannister), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister).

Other key characters played by British stars that feature on the stamps are Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) and Olenna Tyrell (Dame Diana Rigg).

Two characters played by non-British actors complete the collection – Tyrion Lannister (portrayed by American Peter Dinklage) and Jaime Lannister (played by Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

An additional five-stamp sheet features the Night King and his undead White Walkers as well as giants, direwolves, dragons and the Iron Throne.

The stamp collection’s release comes ahead of the HBO show’s eighth and final series, which is currently in production and expected to air in 2019.

Fans can buy the stamps at Post Office branches across the UK from 23 January or by calling Royal Mail’s customer service line.

They can also be pre-ordered on the Royal Mail website.

In 2015, Royal Mail celebrated 50 years of its special stamps programme by launching a website showing all 2,663 designs.

These collections – broadened in scope by then-postmaster general Tony Benn in 1965 – have often been inspired by arts, culture and entertainment – including Star Wars and Harry Potter.

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Source: BBC

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Behzad Mesri is accused of computer fraud, wire fraud, extortion and identity theft.

Acting US attorney Joon Kim told a news conference in New York that Mr Mesri was in Iran.

He said that even though US authorities could not arrest him immediately, Mr Mesri would face consequences.

“He will never be able to travel outside of Iran without fear of being arrested and brought here,” Mr Kim said.

Prosecutors allege Mr Mesri, who has been added to the FBI’s most wanted list,had worked for Iran’s military and been involved in a campaign to deface US websites.

Mr Kim said he was an “experienced and sophisticated hacker who has been wreaking havoc on computer systems around the world for some time”.

Prosecutors say Mr Mesri began conducting online reconnaissance of HBO’s computer networks and employees in May 2017.

“Over the next couple of months, he successfully compromised multiple user accounts in order to obtain access to the media giant’s servers,” court documents say.

“Through the course of the intrusions into HBO’s systems, Mr Mesri was responsible for stealing confidential and proprietary data including… scripts and plot summaries for unaired programming, including but not limited to episodes of Game of Thrones.”

A few weeks later, the documents allege, Mr Mesri claimed to have stolen about 1.5TB of data and began an extortion campaign that included an email to HBO employees that read: “Hi to All losers” Yes it’s true! HBO is hacked!”

It is unclear whether any ransom money, demanded in Bitcoin according to the court documents, was ever paid.

Mr Mesri has not yet commented on the charges.

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Source: BBC

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It’s not what you know, it’s who you know – and that’s particularly true in the film and TV industries, according to Kendrick.

When it comes to going to drama school or funding your first short film, it’s also about how much money you’ve got.

“I’ve worked in the film industry on and off for about half my life and I’ve noticed that the worlds that are represented on our screens by no means mirror the worlds that we see around us in our everyday lives,” the 27-year-old says.

“Part of that is because it’s such a difficult industry to break into and often it requires huge financial support from parents or jobs. Or it requires contacts you’ve made in film school – which again costs a lot of money.

“So it’s a bit of a closed shop.”

Kendrick is known for fighting White Walkers and protecting Bran Stark as Meera Reed in Game of Thrones. She is speaking in her capacity as ambassador for Creative England’s Shortflix scheme, which is looking for budding young film-makers who aren’t in education, employment or training.

Five successful applicants will get funding to make a short film, as well as gaining priceless contacts and kudos.

The scheme has been set up to give opportunities to those from under-represented groups who have the talent and the ambition but not the foot in the door.

“It’s a gateway to people who might not have the financial means or the industry contacts to break in to that industry,” Kendrick says.

Shortflix launched in May and the first five finalists made short films about subjects including black gay dancehall culture in London, homophobia in an Afro-Caribbean hair salon in Sheffield and a suicidal young man in Bath.

‘A broader range of voices’

It will open for applications again this autumn. Kendrick thinks opening up chances like this is “really going to improve our industry” in the long run.

“It’s just going to make better drama and better films because we’re going to have more stories and a broader range of voices, and that’s always going to make much more interesting work,” she says.

And British film could do with a bit of a shake-up, Kendrick believes.

“Sometimes people are put off by seeing only white middle-class period dramas,” she says. “Not that there’s not a place for those.

‘Talent emerging’

“But when those are the only things that are exported to a global market, we start to think that’s the only thing British film can do. And there’s so much more to it than that.”

Creative England’s head Caroline Norbury added that the organisation was set up “to combat the challenge that whilst talent might be everywhere, opportunity is not”.

She said they “work hard” to “make sure that talented people and creative businesses are connected to the money, the markets and the networks that will help them to thrive”.

Shortflix enables “talented new filmmakers from diverse backgrounds to tell their story about their community and identity”, she added.

As well as Game of Thrones, Kendrick has had roles in films like An Education with Carey Mulligan, last year’s Whisky Galore! remake, and The Levelling, the bleak farming drama that came out earlier this year.

On TV, she has been in Being Human and Upstairs, Downstairs – all after her first starring role, in the title role in the BBC’s dramatisation of The Diary of Anne Frank in 2009.

“So much of this industry is about knowing where opportunities are,” she says. “I was only able to become an actor because I happened to know someone who told me about an open audition that a kids’ agency was having.

“If I hadn’t had that one person tipping me off, then I wouldn’t have been able to get into this industry.

“Loads of it is about contacts, and it’s awful that that’s the case.”

‘Sense of entitlement’

As well as supporting Shortflix, Kendrick has been mentoring a younger actress as part of a scheme run by charity Arts Emergency.

She set up meetings for her mentee with drama schools, took her behind the scenes at the National Theatre and arranged for audition coaching with an actor friend.

She wanted to make her protege feel like she had “an entitlement to the industry – that sense of entitlement that so many people who might have had a lot of privilege in their lives take for granted”, she says.

Kendrick herself knows Game of Thrones is her biggest calling card, and made her “eligible”, as she puts it, for leading roles like the one in The Levelling.

After Game of Thrones’ penultimate seventh season, she speaks proudly about how the dogged Meera has survived – with her dignity and integrity intact.

Caring, sharing zombie killer

“I really like that she’s a character who defies convention in terms of traditional representations of femininity,” she says.

“We’re quite fixated at the moment with what we call strong female characters, but what I’d like to push for are complex female characters rather than ones who are just strong, and that’s their sole defining characteristic.

“Not only is she strong – she’s also kind of vulnerable but she hides that vulnerability with the strength that she has to summon to survive.

“She’s undergone an incredibly traumatic series of events but she still manages to maintain a calmness and a kindness and a tenderness, which I think is really laudable.

“But also, you know, I get to wield an axe occasionally and kill some zombies.

“So, all in all, she’s a pretty well-rounded character.”

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Source: BBC

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A group called OurMine appeared to take control of the main HBO accounts, as well as those for the network’s shows including Game of Thrones.

One posts said “OurMine are here. we are just testing your security”.

It is the latest cyber security headache for the entertainment firm after hackers released Game of Thrones scripts and company data.

Some of the social media posts were removed quickly afterwards.

HBO did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

OurMine has a reputation for hacking high profile Twitter accounts.

Last year it compromised Netflix, as well as Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

Security woes

The hack is the latest in a string of security setbacks for HBO in recent weeks.

Unidentified hackers claim to have stolen 1.5TB of data from the company in July.

Out of the haul they released Game of Thrones scripts, company documents and unbroadcast episodes of HBO’s other shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm and Insecure.

Separately, four people have been arrested for leaking an episode of Game of Thrones before it aired. The accused were current and former employees of a Mumbai-based company that stores and processes the series for an online streaming service.

Next came a leak in Europe. An episode of the fantasy show was mistakenly released on to its broadcaster’s Spanish and Nordic streaming platforms days before it was scheduled to be broadcast.

The episode, titled Death is the Enemy, has since been withdrawn, but not before it was copied and circulated on several file-sharing platforms.

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Source: BBC

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The hackers uploaded a text file of the Games of Thrones instalment and an annotated video of the script.

They also shared three episodes of popular HBO TV shows on a site created to host what they stole.

The group behind the breach said it managed to grab more than 1.5 terabytes of data from the firm.

Breach count

On Monday, when news of the data breach began circulating, HBO confirmed that it had been hit by a “cyber-incident” that had led to the loss of some data.

“We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cyber-security firms,” it added.

Some episodes of the HBO shows Ballers and Room 104 were quickly leaked online.

Added to these now are scripts and summaries for episodes three and four of the seventh season of Game of Thrones.

The script for episode four bears a date of April 2016, suggesting it was an early draft rather than the finished, filmed episode.

Also made available were two episodes of upcoming HBO comedy show Barry and one of the Insecure show.

Files containing log-in details for some HBO staff are also believed to have been made available.

Several other large files were also put online but so far no-one has been able to work out what is in them.

Panda Security urged people to avoid any website that made the stolen files available for copying.

“Instead of the new season of a hit show, your system may end up getting infected with malicious software,” it warned.

The security firm added that the hackers behind the breach, or those that share the files around, were not acting benevolently.

It said: “They are money driven and would gladly steal your information too without any hesitation.”

HBO is just the latest in a long list of media firms to be hit by hackers, or who have had data stolen.

In May, unseen episodes of the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black were put online by a hacker after the media firm refused to pay a ransom for their return.

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Source: BBC

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The group says it has 1.5 terabytes of the company’s data and has posted episodes of Ballers and Room 104 online.

It added that more material would be released “soon”.

HBO confirmed it had experienced a “cyber incident” in a statement.

In an email published by Entertainment Weekly, the hackers appeared to offer more details in exchange for favourable coverage.

“Hi to all mankind,” they wrote. “The greatest leak of cyber space era is happening.”

They encouraged recipients to download the material and added: “Whoever spreads well, we will have an interview with him.”

Reports have said the allegedly stolen Game of Thrones script appears to be from the fourth episode of season seven, which is currently being broadcast.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify that the hackers possess the material they claim to have stolen.

HBO confirmed that a “cyber incident” had resulted in the compromise of information.

“We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms,” the firm added.

“Data protection is a top priority at HBO, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the data we hold.”

The intrusion was “obviously disruptive, unsettling, and disturbing for all of us,” said chairman and chief executive Richard Plepler in an email to HBO employees.

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Source: BBC

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As “Game of Thrones” returns for its penultimate season Sunday, fans of the award-winning fantasy epic are getting an early fix at a pop-up bar in Washington, complete with a fire-breathing dragon, coats of armor and bartenders who are dressed the part.

The unmarked venue, on a non-descript street in the US capital, has laid the decor on thick — revelers make their way through a warren of rooms, each reminiscent of a scene from the wildly popular TV fable.

Every now and then, the star attraction — an animatronic dragon — fills the air with a fearsome roar, smoke spewing and fiery lights flashing in its mouth, in a nod to Daenerys Targaryen, the so-called “Mother of Dragons” who reared three of the beasts as her own.

The other dragon siblings are painted on a mural in this popular watering hole, called the Game of Thrones Pop-Up Bar, or GOT PUB.

“We waited for an hour-and-a-half but it was really worth it. The decor is very creative, very realistic. I like the different rooms,” said Rebecca Briere, a physician’s assistant.

“It’s amazing, especially the dragon.”

Fashioned from three connected storefronts, the bar has a limited shelf life: it opened in late June and will remain open until August 27, closing early on Sundays when fans will presumably be home getting their weekly TV fix.

“We want to treat this as the holy hour,” said Paul Taylor, senior bar manager for The Drink Company, which is behind the project. “Watching a show in a bar for me is disappointing. You can’t hear anything.”

Televisions would be out of place anyway in the bar’s maze-like rooms, which have been packed with between 900 and 1,500 people every day amid the excitement over the soon-to-premiere season seven of “Thrones.”

Walk in and above you, spread across the ceiling, are the mighty white branches and red leaves of a Weirwood — one of the sacred trees that triggers visions in the young Bran Stark.

In a niche in the wall is a standing sculpture of a wolf howling into the night sky — the symbol of House Stark, the millennia-old rulers of the North of Westeros.

To the right, lies the House of Black and White — a temple in the city of Braavos where people go to die — eerily recreated with walls covered in plaster faces, although in this case the faces belong to the owner of The Drink Company, volunteers who built the sets and some friends.

Punters can also pose seated on the Iron Throne wearing a fur cloak and holding the royal scepter.

For the privilege, simply sign up — then wait, and wait some more for a text message from a guardian telling you your turn has come to claim the throne.

One group had been waiting 117 minutes and counting.

That is where the cocktails come in — with the people’s choice among the dozen or so themed drinks on offer settling on a concoction called Shame.

Back story: in the finale to the show’s season five, the fallen queen Cersei Lannister confesses to adultery and must take a naked walk of penance through the streets in a brutal public shaming.

Made of tequila, gin, tonic water and grapefruit juice, the cocktail is served up with a spiel from the show: the bartender rings a bell three times and during each pause, everybody yells “Shame!”

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Source: AFP

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Neil Fingleton, who was 7ft 7in, died from a heart attack at home last month.

In a service at Durham Cathedral the 36-year-old was described as someone who “touched the lives” of many.

Canon Alan Bartlett, from his church in Gilesgate, said he remembered him as “a politely spoken and gracious man who just happened to be a bit taller than most of us”, rather than a global star.

Mr Fingleton was a professional basketball player in the United States before becoming an actor.

He played Mag The Mighty in the popular Game of Thrones TV fantasy series and also worked on X-Men and Dr Who, in which he played the Fisher King monster.

A friend who met him in America, Phil Giarusso, said: “The value of a person’s life is not in the things you accumulate, but the quality of your relationships, and Neil touched the lives of all of us.”

Mr Fingleton’s title as Britain’s tallest man was confirmed in 2007.

His mother said it could be a “struggle for him at times” but he had “maintained his humility”, Canon Bartlett told mourners at the service.

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Source: BBC

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In a gimmick described by the New York Times as “memorably misguided,” the US cable network revealed all in a Facebook Live video showing a block of ice which viewers had to melt by commenting “Fire” to reveal the date.

The process was supposed to take a touch under 15 minutes — already a long time to be concentrating on a block of slowly melting ice — but the video malfunctioned several times, drawing out the process to more than an hour.

The debacle sparked snarky posts on Twitter, where #GoTS7 remained one of the top trending hashtags worldwide for hours after the announcement.

“Whoever is in charge of the @GameofThrones S7 premiere date reveal is getting a visit from Septa Unella,” tweeted one frustrated fan, invoking the brutal nun of the show’s fifth and sixth seasons.

“Next year, @HBO, a press release will do,” said fan account @BeautyBrienne.

“Game of Thrones” tells the story of noble families vying for control of the Iron Throne, all the while keeping one eye on the “White Walkers” leading hordes of the undead toward an invasion from the North.

Since its debut in 2010, the fantasy epic — which has 38 Emmys, more than any other narrative show in history — has been the target of criticism for senseless violence and, more controversially, its pervasive use of rape as a dramatic device.

The adult themes have not deterred viewers of the show, which has grown its audience in the US to more than 25 million, and is breaking records across the world.

Season six of “Game of Thrones” was the first to move beyond George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss last year announced a shortened run of episodes for the final two seasons after HBO had already confirmed season seven would return in summer, a departure from the usual April premieres.

The show has been teasing winter’s arrival since its pilot episode, and with the season six finale entitled “The Winds of Winter,” the camera crew has been forced to wait for colder weather.

Benioff told fans at San Diego Comic-Con in July last year shooting would not finish until February and that “there’s no way to get the show out there until summer.”

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Source: AFP

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Basketball player-turned-actor Neil Fingleton suffered a lethal heart failure on Saturday.
He most famously played the giant Mag the Mighty in the HBO TV series Game of Thrones.

He was born in County Durham, England before moving to the US aged 16 to attend Holy Name Central Catholic High School in Massachusetts.

He studied at the University of North Carolina on a basketball scholarship before enjoying a professional career in Spain, China, Italy, Greece and England.

He then turned his hand to acting, also playing the villain The Fisher King in BBC’s Doctor Who in 2015.
Fans took to social media to express their sorrow at his passing.

On Twitter Matthew Rose said: ‘Extremely saddened to learn that #NeilFingleton has passed away, thoughts go with his family and friends in this sad time.’

A Facebook group called The Tall Persons Club posted: ‘Sadly it has come to our attention that Neil Fingleton Britain’s Tallest man passed away on Saturday.

‘Neil started off in basketball in the USA before becoming a actor and starring in the X-men first class and also recently in the Game of Thrones.

‘Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family.’

Fingleton described himself as a ‘happy go lucky guy’ who was not bothered by his height.
He was born weighing 14lbs and reached 7ft by age 11.

Speaking in 2007, Mr Fingleton said: ‘I do cause a bit of a stir wherever I go, with people pulling out cameras, but it doesn’t bother me.’

‘I’ve never been embarrassed about my height and I actually like the size I am. It’s something unique and original.

‘My group of friends are great and I come from a good family, so being tall hasn’t ever been an issue. I’ve not been self-conscious.’

Fingleton was confirmed as the tallest man in Britain in 2007, among the tallest 25 in the world. He took over from Christopher Greener who stood at 7 ft 6 ¼ in.

On the Guinness World Records website, Fingleton said in 2007: ‘I am one of three siblings – my sister who is 6ft3in is the eldest at 30, my brother is 6ft8in who is 29 and I am 7ft7in at 26… my mother is 6ft and my father was also.

‘My great grandfather was 6ft8in. I have always been taller than everyone since I can remember. My height really took off when I reached 11 and was touching 7 foot. By the time I was 16 I was 7ft5in and stopping growing at 18 when I was 7ft7.56’.

‘I have never been self conscious about my height. I am more conscious of going fat and bald so that should tell you. I never let my height play a negative part in my life.

‘I always do what I want, some tall people may be restricted as they are constantly stared at or people ask the same questions over and over. This is the only bad thing about being tall – the stupid remarks and questions. Other than that, being tall is great.’

‘I have been doing acting work since my basketball career finished. I spent 8 years in the USA attending High School and College. I graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 2004 with a degree in History.

‘I have played professionally in Greece, Italy, Spain. Now I am concentrating on acting and trying to move to LA soon to jump in with both feet so to speak.’

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Source: Dailymail

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