Dust off your dancing shoes, Londoners: carnaval is coming to the UK! The Brazilian programme for the London 2012 Festival has been announced in Rio de Janeiro, and looks set to bring the best of the country's creativity to these shores.

As part of the Cultural Olympiad, the celebration will also create opportunities for Brazilian artists to collaborate and create relationships with established and emerging British artists.

This year’s Grammy Awards, the US accolade to recognize outstanding acheivement in the music industry, was held on Sunday 12 February.

The event saw a very British victory, as Adele won in all six categories she was nominated in, matching leading American singer Beyoncé for most Grammy wins in a night by a female act.

Adele won record of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance and best short form music video for ‘Rolling in the Deep’. Her second album, ’21’, was named album of the year.

The singer/songwriter also performed for the first time since having throat surgery last year.

Other British winners were Amy Winehouse, who received a posthumous award for her duet with Tony Bennett, ‘Body and Soul’, which was the last recording she made before her death in July.

British Corinne Bailey also picked up a Grammy for the best R&B performance for ‘Is This Love’.

The last work of the late Lucian Freud went on show for the first time at London's National Portrait Gallery this week, as a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival.

The most ambitious exhibition of the artist's work for ten years, Lucian Freud Portraits will provide an opportunity for visitors to see some of his most important portraits. The show runs from 9 February to 27 May.

Prince Charles is leading global celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens's birth today.

The Prince of Wales laid a wreath at the author's grave in Poets' Corner, ahead of a special service at Westminster Abbey.

The first major exhibition of David Hockney's landscape works will go on show at the Royal Academy of Arts this month, as part of a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival.

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture will be on display from 21 January until 9 April 2012, and will feature the artist's famously vivid paintings alongside related drawings and films.

It may surprise you to learn that, amongst the buildings and traffic, a thriving gardening scene has taken root in London. Inspired to grow their own produce in green spaces around the capital, Londoners are channelling Britain's allotment tradition in new and exciting ways.

Inspired by the cultural vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, Festival of the World will feature a number of exciting projects to celebrate the arts and their power to transform lives.

The London 2012 Festival has announced BT River of Music – two days of music events that will take place on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 July 2012, the weekend before the Olympic Games open.

BT River of Music will offer music lovers of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to take part in celebrating the build up to the London 2012 Games, with free access to events over the weekend.

The winning film-makers will see their short films being screened at iconic London 2012 venues. This opportunity will guarantee that their work is seen by millions throughout the Games next summer. The films will also be shown on the London 2012 Live Sites, big screens in cities across the UK.

It was fourth time lucky for Julian Barnes this week, as the author finally won the prestigious Man Booker prize for his novel The Sense of an Ending.

Barnes, who picked up the £50,000 prize at the London Guildhall on Tuesday, had been shortlisted for the award on three previous occasions. His books Arthur and George (2005), England, England (1998) and Flaubert's Parrot (1984) all received recognition from the Man Booker panel, but failed to scoop the top prize for the Leicester-born writer.