It’s got to be perfect
When I order a cup of tea in Costa, the barista says: ‘Perfect!’ I ask for tap water in a…
Something nasty in the woodshed
I’ve diagnosed myself with early onset cottage-itis. It’s not supposed to happen for another decade, but at 29 I dream…
There will be blood
Wyndham Lewis was a painter, poet, publisher and picker of fights. No target was too grand or too trivial: sentimental…
Let there be dark
Who’s afraid of the dark? Who now fears shadows and bumps in the night? Where do you even find any…
Woman to woman
Bump to bump they stand: Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, both pregnant, both apple-cheeked and glowing as expectant mothers should…
Making waves
The end, whenever it came, was always going to be too soon for Katsushika Hokusai. There was still so much…
A choice of first novels
If you go down to the woods today… That is the starting point for Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, who grew…
Proud to be a prude
What advice would you give to this modern moral question posed by my friend’s younger sister? A boy at school…
From page to stage
Reading Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet is a heady experience. You not only see, hear, know her characters — you can…
From page to stage
Reading Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet is a heady experience. You not only see, hear, know her characters — you can…
On the make
Rudolfo Paolozzi was a great maker. In the summer, he worked almost without stopping in the family’s ice-cream shop, making…
On the make
Rudolfo Paolozzi was a great maker. In the summer, he worked almost without stopping in the family’s ice-cream shop, making…
Rodin at 100
The girl who posed for Auguste Rodin’s figure of Eve on the ‘Gates of Hell’ was, the sculptor said, a…
Rodin at 100
The girl who posed for Auguste Rodin’s figure of Eve on the ‘Gates of Hell’ was, the sculptor said, a…
Rides without romance
You know the old designation NSIT — Not Safe in Taxis? Well, we need a new one: TSIU — Too…
Sunny delight
No Californian could have painted Hockney’s pools. No La-La Land artist, raised on sun and orange juice, would have done…
Sunny delight
No Californian could have painted Hockney’s pools. No La-La Land artist, raised on sun and orange juice, would have done…
Rides without romance
You know the old designation NSIT — Not Safe in Taxis? Well, we need a new one: TSIU — Too…
Rides without romance
You know the old designation NSIT — Not Safe in Taxis? Well, we need a new one: TSIU — Too…
Munchkins and mischiefs
Arthur Rackham shouldn’t have lived in anything as conventional as a house. It should have been a gingerbread cottage, like…
Munchkins and mischiefs
Arthur Rackham shouldn’t have lived in anything as conventional as a house. It should have been a gingerbread cottage, like…
A fresh start
Most of us lead lives of quiet desperation. So we’re told. Frits van Egters apparently leads a life more desperate…
A good night’s sleep
Have you, on hearing the story of the princess who felt a pea through 40 feather mattresses, ever thought that…
A good night’s sleep
Have you, on hearing the story of the princess who felt a pea through 40 feather mattresses, ever thought that…
Stuck on stucco
Whenever the words ‘stucco house’ appear in the newspapers, you can be certain the occupiers have been up to no…
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