Friendships and rivalries in the golden age of Oxford philosophy
Nikhil Krishnan provides many amusing vignettes of Isaiah Berlin, A.J. Ayer, Gilbert Ryle and others in the heyday of linguistic philosophy
The films of Quentin Tarantino’s childhood
The X-rated movies he’d seen by the age of ten included Deliverance, Taxi Driver and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – which he’d then discuss with his child psychologist
After Aberfan, clairvoyants had a field day
In the wake of catastrophe, however random or unpredictable, one of the first things people can be relied upon to…
What did the Russians make of Francis Bacon?
The KGB might not have known much about modern art, but they knew what they liked. For instance, at what…
Contains moments of spellbinding banality: Radio 4's The Poet Laureate has Gone to his Shed reviewed
The interview podcast is a genre immoderately drawn to gimmicks, as the logical space of possible formats is gradually exhausted.…
Our need to get drunk in company may be innate
It was once a favourite theory of optimistic drunkards that a suitably ‘moderate’ level of alcohol consumption provided covert health…
Yuri Gagarin – poster boy of manned space flight
To an observant outsider, the Soviets might have appeared to have developed an oddly intolerant attitude towards stray dogs. Every…
Enjoyably tasteless: Power – The Maxwells reviewed
This year marks three decades since Robert Maxwell fell naked to his death from the deck of his yacht, The…
The programme of art plunder initiated by Hermann Göring continued long after the war’s end
Making one’s fortune in Occupied Paris was largely a matter of knowing the right people: in fact, the further to…
Enjoyably bad-tempered: The Lock In with Jeremy Paxman reviewed
‘I used to be Mr Nasty! That was good! Mr Nasty was easy!’ Jeremy Paxman bellows at Michael Palin on…
A passion for pastiche: China’s Potemkin villages
Closely inspect No. 23 Leinster Terrace, Bayswater and you might notice the house has no letter box. Push at the…
Is this the last round in the great celebrity Punch and Judy show?
It’s been tough recently being Woody Allen, something that didn’t look too easy to begin with. Last year Amazon breached…
