One man and his cows
Pacific Rim is a giant monsters v. giant robots film and although written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, who…
Back in print
As more time elapses since the regrettable fracas over Kitaj’s 1994 Tate exhibition and his tragic suicide in 2007, he…
Master bedroom
What exactly are the ‘secrets of the royal bedchamber’? That the actual bed was seldom if ever slept in let…
Miscast Macbeth
It’s always a problem with Macbeth: what accents to use? The Globe is applying the traditional remedy. Lord and Lady…
Boston’s artistry
Those who lament sluggishness in contemporary stagings of Balanchine’s ballets — and those who are responsible for it — should…
Institutional Toynbeeism
Last week I was on holiday with my family on the Algarve. The good news was that, thanks to the…
Glorious moments
Out and about in Surrey on Sunday I happened upon a scene that could have been played out 77 years…
Reap what you sew
Tapestries once had a place of honour in fine art, but that was during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.…
High life
I remember it well. It was August 1952, and I was dining with my parents on the Palm Beach casino’s…
Low life
Searching the web for information about the enigmatic Bilderberg group, I came across a website called Who Controls America? It’s…
Real life
This is the story of the amazing, disappearing car warranty. It is a cautionary tale that all second-hand car buyers…
Long life
The days may be long gone when a husband would pretend to commit adultery in a Brighton hotel so as…
Bridge
Tor Helness, the Norwegian-born superstar who now plays for Monaco, partnering his wife Gunn in the European Mixed Teams, had…
Gelfand’s hat trick
As previously reported, 45-year-old Boris Gelfand, the oldest player in the tournament, convincingly won the Tal Memorial in Moscow. This…
No. 274
White to play. This position is from Al-Sayed-Georgiev, Fidé World Rapid 2013. What is the most accurate way for White…
Cringeworthy
In Competition 2805 you were invited to submit toe-curlingly bad analogies. Congratulations! You obliged with a stream of analogies glorious…
2121: Take care
The unclued lights, two of two words, are of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe. Across 1 We hear…
to 2118: Unreliable
Eight unclued lights are EXPERTS (24), whom — according to the words of LORD SALISBURY (9) supplied by superfluous and…
Old friends and new
A few years ago, I got the shock of my life when a girl I was sitting next to at…
Murray’s mountain
There’s nothing we old folk like more than a chat about how poorly all our friends and acquaintances are. This…
dear mary your problems solved
Q. I have far too many friends to be able to invite them all to my forthcoming book launch. How…
The day of the pig
I write this column at the point of a pitchfork. A, normally so placid — ‘He’s so placid!’ people like…
Transparency
On 21 June 1785, James Woodforde was in Norwich and in the evening went to Bunns pleasure gardens, where ‘there…
Diary
Al Forsyth, a man who has crossed the Kokoda Track nearly 90 times, told me not to worry, to trust…
