William Cook

A bridge to the past: Tintagel’s complex history

31 August 2019 9:00 am

Halfway across the brand new bridge that links the two halves of Tintagel Castle, there’s a gap where you can…

Alexander Waugh is the Brexit party’s most illustrious candidate

15 August 2019 8:06 pm

At the next General Election, the lucky constituents of Bridgwater and West Somerset will find an illustrious name on their…

Windermere, a voyage into Swallows and Amazons

11 May 2019 9:00 am

‘A love of boats and sailing is the surest of all passports to a happy life,’ wrote Arthur Ransome. Standing…

Preparing to ride up Warren Hill

Newmarket, where the fastest horses in the world thunder past

6 April 2019 9:00 am

Standing on Warren Hill in the morning mist, watching Britain’s finest thoroughbreds thunder past, you realise what makes Newmarket so…

Jadon Sancho, Borussia Dortmund’s star player (Lukas Schulze/Bundesliga/DFL via Getty Imag-es)

I watched Jadon Sancho grow up. That’s why I know he’s Britain’s next footballing megastar

9 March 2019 9:00 am

How much is Jadon Sancho worth? Fifty million? A hundred million? As the speculation mounts, the numbers keep growing. Jadon…

Constable’s ‘The Hay Wain’ (1821)

In Constable’s ascension, Jesus just looks quite awkward

26 January 2019 9:00 am

Constable painted only three religious paintings, and when you see the one in St Mary’s Church in Dedham you realise…

Auberon Waugh when standing for the Dog Lovers’ Party against Jeremy Thorpe in the 1979 general election. Credit: Getty Images

Auberon Waugh — a demon on the page, an angel off it

26 January 2019 9:00 am

Auberon Waugh was happy to admit that most journalism is merely tomorrow’s chip paper but, of all the journalists of…

The Church of Sant’Antonio Nuovo at the end of the Grand Canal

Beautiful untamed Trieste, aka the Capital of Nowhere

5 January 2019 9:00 am

‘Welcome to the free territory of Trieste,’ reads the sign in the shop window. ‘US and UK come back!’ For…

Kurt Eisner and friends plan a brave new world. Credit. Getty Images

Dreams of utopia before the Nazi nightmare

17 November 2018 9:00 am

Today Munich is a prosperous and peaceful place — Germany’s most affluent, attractive city. Wandering its leafy avenues, lined with…

From dirty old town... to New Age nirvana

The Yorkshire town that’s gone from dirty old buildings to New Age nirvana

29 September 2018 9:00 am

Bernard Ingham once told a story about a reporter from the Financial Times who went to cover an election in…

In name only: Hastings’ beautiful Old Town

Hastings is pretty – but it’s the people who make it special

28 July 2018 9:00 am

Kevin Boorman loves Hastings, and his enthusiasm is infectious. He was born here, he’s lived here all his life and…

The great outdoors is a short walk from your front door

30 June 2018 9:00 am

When I read about the author on the flyleaf of this book, I must admit my heart sank: ‘Tristan has…

The real America: NJ’s clapboard houses

Big cities are all alike – it’s in New Jersey’s small towns that you feel like you’re really travelling

23 June 2018 9:00 am

When my American friends invited us to stay with them in New Jersey, my 13-year-old daughter was thrilled. She’d never…

Becoming German has helped me understand Brexit

16 June 2018 9:00 am

In the end, after all the waiting, the document didn’t look like much — a sheet of A4 paper adorned…

Barren, windswept beauty: the town’s beachfront

Southend-on-Sea has long been a running joke – until now

7 April 2018 9:00 am

Standing at the end of Britain’s longest pier, on a cold and misty morning, looking out across the Thames Estuary,…

Founded by Constantine: the Catholic cathedral

Marx in Trier

17 February 2018 9:00 am

‘Trier hates you,’ reads the graffiti outside the Karl-Marx-Wohnhaus in Trier. Actually, that’s a bit unfair. Trier doesn’t hate Marx,…

The wild and wintry wonders of Lapland

6 January 2018 9:00 am

As Sini harnessed up the huskies they were all yelping with excitement, but once we set off and the forest…

Anthologies to bring comfort and joy

16 December 2017 9:00 am

John Julius Norwich loves Christmas dearly. ‘I just wish it didn’t come round about every three months,’ he says. I…

Where did it all go wrong for Angela Merkel?

25 November 2017 9:00 am

 Trier, Rhineland Was it really just a few months ago that Angela Merkel was being hailed as the leader of…

Lewes

28 October 2017 9:00 am

Autumn is upon us, and the streets are full of families in fancy dress. People of all ages are dressing…

The Merkel supremacy

9 September 2017 9:00 am

 Berlin ‘Capitalism is armed robbery,’ reads the graffiti on the subway wall, but here in Berlin, German capitalists are doing…

Master of the dark art of interrogation: Alexander Scotland in 1945

A grand inquisitor

2 September 2017 9:00 am

Hidden behind Kensington Palace, in one of London’s smartest streets, there is a grand old house which played a leading…

Ivory towers

22 July 2017 9:00 am

Great novels rarely make great movies, but for half a century one director has been showing all the others how…

Sheep thrills: holidaying on a working farm

West Middlewick Farm

17 June 2017 9:00 am

In springtime in our family, we always have the same old argument: where should we go on our summer holiday…

Sweet and sour: Michelle Holmes (Sue, centre) and Siobhan Finneran (Rita, centre right) in ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too’

Thatcher’s Britain with her knickers down

6 May 2017 9:00 am

Two 16-year-old schoolgirls from a sink estate in Bradford find fun and happiness by shacking up with a middle-aged married…