James Hall

Manumission, the famously outrageous Ibiza club night founded by Mike McKay, Claire Davies and Andy McKay, grew from a Manchester party into a defining symbol of 1990s dance-culture excess. Its live sex shows, elaborate performers and 1998 Manumission Motel attracted celebrities, DJs and media attention before financial problems, burnout, police scrutiny and reality television helped bring the enterprise to an end. Claire Davies’s memoir, The Motel: High Times in 90s Ibiza, also recounts her alleged sexual assault by Mohamed Fayed and her involvement with the Harrods Survivors group. A one-off three-day Manumission event in Ibiza in September 2026 will briefly revive the club’s spirit.

A new biography by Bob Spitz charts the Rolling Stones' chaotic 64-year history, revealing near-partnerships with the Beatles, extensive drug use, turbulent relationships, and revived theories about Brian Jones’s death. Drawing on interviews with band insiders, it recounts early name changes, elaborate drug-smuggling tactics, sexual exploits, interpersonal tensions among partners, and suspicions surrounding Jones’s drowning. The book, positioned as the definitive Stones biography, highlights the band’s rise from London clubs to global fame and will be published on May 28.