The rise and fall of Peter Bogdanovich
David Thomson talks to the director about Buster Keaton, falling out of favour with Hollywood, and his mentor Orson Welles
Low life
The three of us — me, Catriona and her daughter Skye — were having a wash and brush-up before going…
The show that bombed
‘Miss World 1970’ is the rather glorious title that Jennifer Hosten won. That was the year that the contest, then…
An age-old problem
‘I’m getting rather tired of me,’ begins Jan Morris in one of the diary entries in Thinking Again, almost certainly…
Descent into lawlessness
It was perhaps a mistake to re-read Sebastian Barry’s award-winning Days Without End before its sequel, A Thousand Moons, since…
puzzle no. 596
White to play. Shirov–Yuffa, Nutcracker Battle of the Generations, Moscow 2020. The rook on f7 is pinned, and 1 Rxf8+…
Candidates goes ahead
Coronavirus is causing chess events to fall like dominoes, with cancellations all over the world. But the Candidates tournament in…
Confessional
In Competition No. 3140 you were invited to submit a poem in the style of a famous poet in which…
2449: Stateless
Eight thematic words (one of two words), which solvers have to discover and whose two-letter abbreviations form the anagram I’M…
to 2446: Spring time
The omitted letters reveal SATURDAY THE TWENTY-NINTH OF FEBRUARY TWENTY TWENTY. First prize Lewis Osborne, Newton Mearns, Glasgow Runners-up G.H.…
James Bond and Q in one
Early one morning in October 1874 a barge carrying three barrels of benzoline and five tons of gunpowder blew up…
Bridge
Bridge is obviously another casualty of the coronavirus. Clubs have closed their doors; tournaments have been cancelled; championships have been…
Things that go bump in the night
This is a paranormal book — by which I mean it exists in a truly out of the ordinary netherworld…
The turf
The socialite MP Chips Channon once noted in his diaries his feelings about an after-lunch snooze in parliament’s Library: ‘It…
Mysteries multiply
Steampunk, a shapeshifting and unpredictable genre, has a way of subverting the past, mischievously disordering the universe with historical what-ifs.…
Real life
The most exciting place on earth I have ever been to is the village where I live. And I don’t…
A woman of no importance
‘Buy pink baby clothes,’Kim Jiyoung, the protagonist of this bestselling South Korean novel is told at the obstetrician’s surgery. Jiyoung’s…
High Life
No use datelining any more, I’m here for the duration. Even the ski lifts have been ordered to close: chiuso,…
Coronavirus keeps the spotlight on Trump and away from Joe Biden
Well, well, well. There was former White House press secretary Sean Spicer at today’s press conference in a new incarnation…
Rishi Sunak’s ‘unprecedented’ wage guarantee
When Chancellor Riski Sunak unleashed a colossal package for business earlier this week, with over £350bn in loans, grants and…
Boris’s pub ban makes this a dark day for Britain
For surreal moments, this will take some beating: I’m in a pub watching the prime minister announce the closure of…
Rishi Sunak’s wartime economy
At least no one can say it isn’t bold. The United States is fiddling around with some possible cuts to…
