These are some of my final news stories at The Independent before I went freelance at the beginning of December (since then, I have been commissioned by Esquire, am working on MYMZK and am pursuing new opportunities).

*Story off back of leaked correspondence between Leonardo owner and Dr Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, ahead of the gallery's major show;

*Call of Duty 3 approved by censors (followed by The Daily Mail);

*Shane Meadows lined up for Stone Roses film (followed by The Guardian, The Sun, NME, Metro, among others)

*Did Van Gogh die in unfortunate brush with fate (first journalist in the world to report; story subsequently published by hundreds of international media);

*Child visitors plummet to major museums;

*The Wallingers that were too wacky, even for him.

Recent stories (I am just going to include here those which I wrote about first)

*Turkey demands return of its "Elgin Marble" (followed by CNN)

*Sue Tilley moves out of Soho (followed on page three, The Evening Standard)
*Abbado/Grimaud fall out over "artistic differences" (subsequently profiled in the New Yorker and splashed by NYT Arts section)

*Tate staff complain of bullying (followed by The Evening Standard)
*Ford Madox Brown piece discovered (followed by BBC, Reuters, The LA Times, The Guardian)

*JG Ballard's house for sale (followed by The Guardian, The Evening Standard & BBC)
*Poetry Society slash funding (followed by The Guardian & BBC)
*Michelangelo discovered at Oxford college (followed by Huffington Post, BBC, and then a lot of international media)
*Short story campaign (part of rolling stories followed by The Guardian)
*Venice censorship (followed by The Daily Telegraph)

Have also been invited to become a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Some key stories so far this year (listed here so I don't forget).

*Covering the Brits, Baftas and Oliviers;

*Nationwide Arts Council cuts.

*Story about Dennis Hopper's art being pulled (reported ahead of/followed by LA Times, FT, NY Daily News);

*Quotes calling for Ai Weiwei's release (quotes used by The Guardian, Channel 4, and Der Spiegel);

*Story on new choreography in ballet (followed by The Telegraph);

*Interviews with Sir Nicholas Penny; Lenny Henry and Greg Dyke.

*Story on Yuri Gagarin statue (followed by Mail; later reported by The Guardian, The Mirror, BBC);

*Nice exclusives on CS Lewis, Kew, Pertwee, Anderson & Gold; Luminaire piece from a while ago, later cropping up in The Guardian.