JOHN O’BRIEN is one of the key people behind what might be Cork’s golden age of opera and musical theatre.

Fred Ebb, who wrote the lyrics for hit Broadway musicals including Chicago and Cabaret, as well as the big-city anthem, New York, New York, has died of a heart attack.

Singer-songwriter Paul Simon said he was celebrating his new chance at an Oscar after a paperwork mistake probably kept his song, Mrs Robinson, out of the competition 35 years ago.