Why did I agree to appear on University Challenge?
I promised the producers I wouldn't tell you what happened. But still, dear God...
The ghosts of crises past – and the gambler’s strategy for crises to come
Plus: How much money you need to be happy, and when risk-taking is the safest thing
Cameron’s gifts
He’d like to present you with single-party government and lower tax rates, among other things
Letter from London
Plus: John Lloyd's stand-up return, and why a listener sent a photo of gingerbread to In Our Time
What would you tell your 14-year-old self?
Answers from Justin Welby, Joan Bakewell, Giles Coren, Jonathan Sumption, James Rhodes and many more...
On the contrary
The great contrarian on 'fascist voices' around Thatcher, the fate of the public schools, and why he swore on TV
Voices of England
For Italians it's romantic arias. For Germans, lieder. Give me Isaac Watts, John Bunyan and Edward Elgar
Music in Vienna
There is no finer city in which to hear music than Vienna. Or, to put it more felicitously, there is…
Aesthete and huckster
He remade the art world - and made a fortune in the process. Rachel Cohen's new biography shows the talent, hard work and compromises that took
Hiding in plain sight
Catherine Merridale's Red Fortress gets behind the facade of Russia's most famous building
A treasure-trove of wonders
The first historian has taken much criticism from his successors. As Tom Holland's translation shows, he deserves better
