A large Banksy painting depicting chimpanzees in the UK Parliament sold for more than £9.87 million (Dh44.3m) on Thursday, a record auction price for a work by the secretive British street artist, Sotheby's said.
Devolved Parliament, in which chimpanzees replace politicians in the House of Commons, more than comfortably surpassed its estimated price range of £1.5m to £2m.
The auctioneer declared "history being made" at one point during the sale, which was streamed live.
After bidding that lasted 13 minutes, the 2009 artwork from a private collection sold to loud applause for a hammer price of £8.5m, to which fees were added.
"Record price for a Banksy painting set at auction tonight," the artist wrote on his Instagram feed beside a post quoting art critic Robert Hughes about the value of artworks.
"Shame I didn’t still own it."
The quote by Mr Hughes was: "The price of a work of art is now part of its function. Its new job is to sit on the wall and get more expensive.
"Instead of being the common property of humankind the way a book is, art becomes the particular property of someone who can afford it."
Before Thursday's sale, the auction record for a Banksy work was more than $1.8m (Dh6.6m) for Keep it Spotless at Sotheby's in New York in 2008.
Devolved Parliament is 4 metres wide, making it Banksy's largest known canvas, Sotheby's said.
The work was painted in 2009 but many commentators drew comparisons with the brutish exchanges in the Commons over Britain’s departure from the EU.
The Bristol-born artist, who keeps his identity a secret, is known for his political or social commentary in graffiti work that has appeared in cities around the world.
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
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Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: Barack Beach, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Way Of Wisdom, Connor Beasley, Satish Seemar.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Woodditton, Connor Beasley, Ahmad bin Harmash.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 2,000m
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8.50pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m
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9.25pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m
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The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
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RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
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6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,400m
Winner: Yaalail, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
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Winner: Ezz Al Rawasi, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi.
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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Champion%20v%20Champion%20(PFL%20v%20Bellator)
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