Climbing Everest with Brian Blessed is the nearest anyone will get to encountering the yeti
In 1969 the body of an ape-like creature, preserved in ice inside an insulated box, came to light in Minnesota.…
The highs – and occasional lows – of long-distance walking
Long-distance walking is all the rage these days. There are all-nighters staged by charities, for instance the annual MoonWalk in…
Playful, adorable – and with a real nose for trouble: In praise of the beagle
Harvey’s finest moment, he would tell you, was the chicken kiev. I’d just made the garlic butter and inserted it…
Compulsory subtitles? I read ‘em and weep
Subtitles are taking over the world. It’s increasingly rare these days for a video clip to be free of those…
Which town directly inspired the revival of the Olympics? Clue: it’s not in Greece
There were two mascots for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. One was called Mandeville, obviously because Stoke Mandeville’s games…
The great unknowns
Have you heard about the invention that cures your smartphone addiction? Whereas normally you can’t go more than a minute…
Tales out of school
In 1952, the five-year-old Michael Rosen and his brother were taken on holiday along the Thames by their communist parents.…
Gresham College
How many people need to gather together before it becomes more likely than not that at least two of them…
Diary
No sympathy from me for the Brits stuck in the European heatwave. I’ve never understood people who go abroad for…
Fighting talk — but little action — from Ernest Hemingway
On 11 May 1937, at the Gare St-Lazare in Paris, Ernest Hemingway said goodbye to a friend who was leaving…
Confess your guilty displeasures
It is now entirely cool to adore the uncool. But what about the things we can’t admit to not enjoying?
The Heckler: love your music, Macca, just not sure about you
It’s slightly galling, after years of sticking up for Paul McCartney, to read a new biography of the bloke and…
Across the river... and into the trees
Water accounts for 70 per cent of your planet, and 60 per cent of your body. Yet when do you…
How baby names got so weird
How Wolf and Skylar pushed out John and Mary
Keith Moon’s wedding-night abseil and other marvellous false memories
False memory disasters, from Keith Moon’s wedding-night abseil to Sophia Loren’s peanut addiction
Girl about town — on a bicycle
The old ditty got it wrong: it should have been ‘Maybe it’s because I’m not a Londoner that I love…
Nessie’s enduring attraction
It wasn’t until I drove past Loch Ness a couple of years ago that I realised just how enormous it…
Discover your inner nerd
There’s a curious thing about the bowling green in my Suffolk village. The footpath running alongside it is on a…
From Spike Milligan — and Marge Simpson — with love, light, peace and great respect
This book is a serious bit of kit. Its hard covers measure 28.9 by 21 centimetres, and it weighs 1.62…
Why isn’t it creepy when women phwoar at Poldark?
When women lust after blokes on telly it’s funny, not seedy
Six rules for a perfect pub
Whenever one of those news stories appears about how many pubs have been forced to close in the last year,…
I’m 43. Why am I still so reluctant to call myself a man?
I'm 43. Why do I still not refer to myself as a man?
Which political souvenirs are worth hanging on to
My first reaction on hearing of Margaret Thatcher’s death in 2013 was: ‘Great — now my autograph from her will…
Customer surveys: just say no
Against the customer service Q&A
Sir Ian Botham is a hero – and a fool
Mark Mason 28 November 2015 9:00 am
In 1981, when I was ten and Ian Botham was 26, I thought he was God. Now, the week after…