Shakespeare’s crowning glory
There’s only one true version of King Lear, says Sir Brian Vickers — and any Shakespeare scholar who disagrees can go hang
On Moses’s mountain
In his engrossing history of travellers to Mount Sinai, George Manginis describes the 19th-century theft of the priceless Codex Sinaiticus by Constantine Tischendorf
An Oxford treasure trove
Oxford’s reverence for the Classics over the centuries is brilliantly celebrated by L.W.B Brockliss — who also imagines a glorious virtual future for the university
Last laughs
Stibbe’s teenage heroine tries to make sense of the eccentric inmates and a mountain of unpaid bills at Paradise Lodge
Burning passions
In 1988, Bradford Muslims didn’t apparently manage to incinerate Rushdie’s book — symbolic, says Kenneth Baker, of the endurance of the written word
The great pretenders
In an age of advanced technologies, copying might not be a deviant variant, but the essential thing. But does that mean the beauty of Palmyra can be reproduced by robots?
Myth-making
The music lacks memorability, the staging evokes a sigh and the performances are mildly uneven – but I wasn’t bored for a moment
Mind games
Plus: a quirky, engaging, affectionate portrait of David Baddel’s mum and dad at the Menier Chocolate Factory
Giving Tate Modern a lift
The new ten-storey Switch House is a strange object with an exposed-concrete interior, some promisingly large new galleries and an optimum belvedere
Jane Austen on speed
Because he’s utterly wrong about Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan – and this delicious film adaptation, Love & Friendship, by Whit Stillman proves it
Counting on sheep
Jo Brand and Omid Djalili (of BBC4’s anti-austerity comedy Going Forward) should try watching Addicted to Sheep, which is so politically incorrect I’m surprised it hasn’t got an 18 certificate
Baby love
Plus: Jane Goodall makes the ideal guest on Radio 3’s Private Passions with her undemanding music choices and chimp tales
Royal Court Theatre
The sixty-year-old institution has a large reputation built on minuscule achievements
Low life
Depending on the result of my recent blood test, my oncologist may halt my cancer hormone treatment
Real life
What with rows with neighbours and people going bump in the night – I’m not cut out for Airbnb
Numbers game
The beginning of the season is always tricky for punters, but there are helpful indicators if you know where to look
Bridge
If you live in (or anywhere near) London, and you enjoy a good teams tournament, you could do no better…
Garry’s comeback
To great surprise, the former world champion Garry Kasparov staged a brief comeback when he participated in a blitz tournament…
No. 410
Black to play. This position is from So-Nakamura, Ultimate Blitz Challenge, Saint Louis 2016. How did Black make a key…
2262: Numbers game
The unclued Across lights are of one linguistic kind and the unclued Down lights are of another, all of which…
To 2259: Eco
The unclued lights can be preceded by GREEN which had to be shaded in green, as indicated in the solution…
