Arts
Hull’s a poppin’
In early January, lastminute.com recommended its top 15 destinations for 2017. In 12th spot, just above Montreal, Croatia and Japan,…
Metal fatigue
‘All that glisters is not gold,’ wrote Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice), and you have to hand it to the…
Seeing everything in black and white
Two divergent approaches to printmaking are on view in an exhibition of graphic work by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud…
Playing dead
It could be the nuttiest idea ever. The protagonist of this American musical is Death, who secretly reprieves a beautiful…
Playing dead
It could be the nuttiest idea ever. The protagonist of this American musical is Death, who secretly reprieves a beautiful…
Notes on a scandal
Kids: who’d have them? Certainly no one who has ever been to the opera. If they’re not murdering you, they’re…
Notes on a scandal
Kids: who’d have them? Certainly no one who has ever been to the opera. If they’re not murdering you, they’re…
Sign of the times
As if on cue, The World At One on Monday (Radio 4) ended with a short (too short) interview with…
Sign of the times
As if on cue, The World At One on Monday (Radio 4) ended with a short (too short) interview with…
The real George III
Before he died aged 44 (probably of a pulmonary embolism, poor chap), Frederick, Prince of Wales, compiled a list of…
Wall eyed
Any impressively long wall is bound to cause us to recall the midfield dynamo and philosopher John Trewick. In 1978…
The only way is up
Michael Andrews once noted the title of an American song on a scrap of paper: ‘Up is a Nice Place…
Sloppy seconds
Danny Boyle introduced T2 Trainspotting at the screening I attended and said that, throughout filming, he’d seen the cast looking…
Bruckner by numbers
It used to be said that Bruckner composed the same symphony nine times, whereas, thanks to the comparative frequency of…
Snow blindness
Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden has not received a professional staging in the UK for 60 years. Think about that for…
Accentuate the positive
How does a town like Hungerford, tucked into the Berkshire hills, with its sleepy canal running through it and high…
Adult entertainment
The mid-life crisis novel, I think it’s fair to say, is traditionally a male form. But in Louise Doughty’s Apple…
Amphibious assault
David Spicer’s farce Raising Martha opens with a skeleton being disinterred on a frog farm by animal-rights activists. They hope…
Lucia Martin-Cartón soprano soloist
Countless indignities have been visited upon the Hallelujah Chorus. Currently it is being used in a suggestive television commercial for…
Wall eyed
Any impressively long wall is bound to cause us to recall the midfield dynamo and philosopher John Trewick. In 1978…
The only way is up
Michael Andrews once noted the title of an American song on a scrap of paper: ‘Up is a Nice Place…
Sloppy seconds
Danny Boyle introduced T2 Trainspotting at the screening I attended and said that, throughout filming, he’d seen the cast looking…
Bruckner by numbers
It used to be said that Bruckner composed the same symphony nine times, whereas, thanks to the comparative frequency of…
Bruckner by numbers
It used to be said that Bruckner composed the same symphony nine times, whereas, thanks to the comparative frequency of…
Amphibious assault
David Spicer’s farce Raising Martha opens with a skeleton being disinterred on a frog farm by animal-rights activists. They hope…
