National Entertainment

NEW YORK — Painter Guy Stanley Philoche, a star in the New York art world, had wanted to treat himself to a fancy watch after a hugely successful gallery show.

TORONTO — The Canadian Opera Company has found its new general director at the Houston Grand Opera. The HGO's managing director Perryn Leech will formally assume his Toronto post on March 1, 2021.

LONDON — British singer Rita Ora apologized Monday for breaking lockdown rules by holding a birthday party, saying it was “a serious and inexcusable error of judgment.

NEW YORK — On Dec. 31, China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin to the World Health Organization. By Jan. 31, WHO declared an outbreak of a novel coronavirus a global health emergency.

LONDON — Britain’s culture minister thinks the Netflix TV series “The Crown” should come with a disclaimer: It’s a work of fiction.

LONDON — Dave Prowse, the British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of arch-villain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, has died. He was 85.

BRUSSELS — With nothing on their agendas for months to come, music festival organizers in Belgium want to use their know-how to help the country's coronavirus vaccination campaign.

NEW YORK — The co-author of the million-selling “Game Change” has a book of his own coming about the 2020 election.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Dec. 6-12: Dec. 6: Actor Patrick Bauchau (“The Pretender,” “Carnivale”) is 82. Country singer Helen Cornelius is 79. Actor James Naughton (“Hostages,” “Planet of the Apes”) is 75.

NEW YORK — If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be? Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year.