Arts
The Menuhin test
‘The truth is,’ says Gordon Back, lowering his voice, ‘that if the violin finalists from the BBC Young Musician of…
Lords of the dance
Giannandrea Poesio meets Ivan Vasiliev and Roberto Bolle, ballet’s demigods
House rules
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors flock to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, in order to see…
Moral vacuum
Opera’s grim fascination with ‘fallen women’ — as Welsh National Opera has called its latest mini-season — lies largely in…
Going nowhere
OK, Need for Speed, if we must, and we must because I sat through it (running time: 130 minutes) and…
Top of the form
When I visited the Richard Deacon exhibition at Tate Millbank, there were quite a lot of single men of a…
Diligent drudgery
What’s the quickest way to create a hit musical? Base it on a bestselling book. The writers of The A-Z…
Channel hopping
So BBC3 will be online-only from next autumn. If the Beeb had presented this news as the channel being the…
Landscapes of sound
When the BBC proposed to do away with 6 Music a few years ago, the media-savvy fans of the station…
Occupational hazards
Roberto Rossellini shot his neorealist landmark Rome, Open City while the war still raged and rubble littered the freshly liberated…
Occupational hazards
Roberto Rossellini shot his neorealist landmark Rome, Open City while the war still raged and rubble littered the freshly liberated…
House rules
Every year, tens of thousands of visitors flock to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, in order to see…
Occupational hazards
Roberto Rossellini shot his neorealist landmark Rome, Open City while the war still raged and rubble littered the freshly liberated…
Act of Faith
Paloma Faith has forced herself to become confident, she tells Matthew Stadlen,but sometimes she still has to put on a brave face
The torture of earworms
Earworm: what a wonderful word. It describes, as nothing else quite can, the effect a really invasive melody can have…
Raiders and traders
Exhibitions are made for two main reasons: education and entertainment. Although I recognise the importance of education I am, by…
Musical feasts
I wasn’t going to write about Handel’s Rodelinda, wasn’t even intending to go, but thanks to the kindness of the…
Freak factory
Interesting times at Soho Theatre. One of its outstanding shows of last year, Fleabag, was an offbeat Gothic love story…
For your eyes only
The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest Wes Anderson film and it is beautiful to look at, scrumptious, luscious, such…
Winning formula
I’ve got this brilliant idea for a major new cop series. It’s called Chalk and Cheese and, though you won’t…
Edge of darkness
It doesn’t take long for an international event of historic importance to fall off the news agenda. Ukraine is still…
Blast from the past
If Margaret Thatcher is remembered by many more as a caricature than as her actual self, then blame Spitting Image.…
Blast from the past
If Margaret Thatcher is remembered by many more as a caricature than as her actual self, then blame Spitting Image.…
Blast from the past
If Margaret Thatcher is remembered by many more as a caricature than as her actual self, then blame Spitting Image.…
The torture of earworms
Earworm: what a wonderful word. It describes, as nothing else quite can, the effect a really invasive melody can have…
