Fame
A revival of Alan Bennett’s early work is long overdue
Until the archive is made available, the diaries will have to do. But some superb dramas from the past century are sadly missed
Things still seem oddly disorientating without Seamus Heaney
But at least there’s now a complete edition of the poems, which feels right for a man who never lost himself, but always remained centred, concentrated and uncorrupted
My obsession with ageing rock stars – by Kate Mossman
The music journalist describes a career spent interviewing the likes of Sting, Tom Jones, Brian May and Roger Taylor – each time feeling ‘something inside me ignite’
Portrait of an artistic provocateur: Blue Ruin, by Hari Kunzru, reviewed
A once fashionable YBA now scraping a living in America meets old friends by chance, prompting a deep dive into memory
Only one half of the story
As introductions go, ‘My name is Agnès, but that is not important’ does not have quite the same confidence as…
Making scientific history
In 1993 William Waldegrave, the science minister, was looking into a project being planned on the continent. Cern, the European…
John Lennon’s desert island luxury
Beatlebone is an account of a journey, a psychedelic odyssey, its protagonist — at times its narrator — John Lennon,…
If Philip Seymour Hoffman wasn’t happy, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Celebrity deaths have no decorum. From Elvis on his toilet to Whitney face down in her bathtub, their last moments…
