The real reason I don’t drink
It’s been 30 years this month since I last touched alcohol and I still can’t face the prospect of a…
The mutilation of Radio 3
On Saturday 12 December 1964, Harold Wilson addressed his first Labour party conference as prime minister, George Harrison was photographed…
The wonder of Jon Pertwee and his frilly shirt
When a friend asked if I wanted anything for Christmas I took a deep breath and replied: ‘Well, maybe I…
What do sugar and cocaine have in common?
Stephen Fry is a national treasure whom half the nation can’t stand. He drops his façade of loveability mid-chortle as…
How not to speak to builders
It’s week eight of the installation of a cheap Ikea kitchen in my flat, and an Albanian builder is slumped…
Glorious data dump
At the beginning of the 1980s a former ice-cream salesman called Ted Perry drove a London minicab to raise money…
Double trouble
Naomi Klein had got used to being confused with Naomi Wolf. Then Covid hit and it was no longer a joke
The limits of nostalgia
Why I had to let go of my late sister’s house
Comrades in arms
There were times during last Friday’s First Night of the Proms when it felt as if we’d been transported back…
Art attack
Has the Vatican abandoned beauty?
Pope opera
The search for the next pontiff is turning ugly
Alsatian string-breaker
One of the most intriguing piano concertos of the late 19th century is unknown to the public – and no…
A feast for the ears
Sir Hubert Parry was upgraded from knight bachelor to baronet by King Edward VII in 1902, and my goodness he…
Imperial march
If being asked to write music for the coronation of a king is an honour, then doing it for an…
Devil’s advocates
The rise of America’s Satanists
A cut above
The fine art of snubbing
Max factor
The German composer Max Reger, born 150 years ago next week, is mostly remembered today for countless elephantine fugues and…
The lady on the No. 26
I was sceptical when the lady on the bus to Reading town centre told me that her father knew Liszt.…
