Homage to awesome Welles on his centenary
Both Patrick McGilligan and Simon Callow sympathetically capture the larger-than-life maverick who detested appearing in any film that wasn’t his own
‘All he did done perfectly’
I’m not sure how well I knew him, but it was enough to be with him in so many moments of pleasure
A Christmas carol
In Competition No. 2927 you were invited to submit a Christmas carol written in the style of a writer of…
Chrissie Hynde writes like an angel on angel dust
Julie Burchill admires Hynde’s candid memoir, but is thankful that, as a teenager, she didn’t hang around with her for long
Afghanistan’s new agony
Fifteen years of western intervention achieved no more than the pretence of a stable state
A Horrible History of English Hymns
Andrew Gant’s authoritative study of English church music is ruined by mateyness and coarse tabloidese
Christmas Notebook
Joan Collins's notebook: 'Happy holidays' in Birmingham and Hollywood; and a word on Donald Trump
The works
Along the top and bottom rows of the grid runs a seasonal quotation of 11 words. 81 clues contain a…
The art of Beatrix Potter
Her best illustrations - limpid, ethereal, carefully observed - are masterly works of art in their own right, argues Matthew Dennison
The year of the cad
From Lord Sewel to – let’s not be sexist – Sally Bercow, there’s life in the old rogue yet
To 2238: Old issues
The title suggests BACK NUMBERS (8/15). Remaining unclued lights contain ‘back numbers’: GENEVESE (1A), MARXIST (20), GENETTE (24), XENON (37),…
Following yonder star
But the astronomer Marek Kukula wonders whether Colin Nicholl’s exhaustive treatment of ‘the Great Christ Comet’ may miss the whole point of the gospel story
London Notebook
Anthony Horowitz's Christmas notebook, also featuring the decline of ebooks and the birth of New Blood
Notebook
Also in this Christmas notebook: a hairdresser called ‘they’, and what I found out on my speed-awareness course
Tis the season for disagreeing with your spouse about everything
Caroline and I have different ideas about every single aspect of Christmas. It’s all part of the fun – for me anyway
O Rose thou art sick
India Knight is amused by how often the perfumes people choose to wear absurdly mismatch their personalities
Seasonal advice from the great and the good
Favourite Christmas rituals – and what to avoid for a successful Christmas. With Clare Balding, Alexander McCall Smith and Tim Rice
From the dismal to the delightful: the year in sport
2015 began and ended with epic high notes: the scaling of the Yosemite’s Dawn Wall and Great Britain’s magnificent Davis Cup victory
Here’s to Bill
Pour Me, Gill’s frank account of his struggle with alcoholism, pays heartfelt tribute to Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
Would you believe it? A selection of ancient faiths ripe for revival
Stoicism has already made a comeback... so what other age-old beliefs can be repurposed for the 21st century?
Center Parcs Longleat – a stealth socialist utopia on Lord Bath’s estate
Ideologically, it is impeccable; and you can ride the wild water rapids with the Welsh and get a minor spinal injury
The Ghost in the machine
The waspish critic, who died earlier this year, is also a haunting presence in this paean to Henry Royce and his magnificent creation
Why the greatest innovations do only one thing, but do it well
How Sony’s founder ignored market research and defied his own engineers to make a huge success of the Walkman
December
The ferns around the badgers’ sett are dying down, and fine webs fret the brambles. By late afternoon the moon…
My surreal Christmas in hospital with a dangerously ill child
Doctors and nurses in fancy dress felt like a percious link with normal life outside as my teenage son fought bacterial meningitis
