Arts
The unhappy Prince
A tragic flaw is one thing — every hero should have one — but Mayerling’s Rudolf, a syphilitic drug addict…
Dome truths
It was 50 years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play. The result was a popular masterpiece. Thirty…
Thatcher’s Britain with her knickers down
Two 16-year-old schoolgirls from a sink estate in Bradford find fun and happiness by shacking up with a middle-aged married…
Put a spell on you
Many of the mediums from which art is made have been around for a long time. People have been painting…
Discovery channels
Bashing the BBC often becomes a popular blood sport in times of political instability, and especially if the left is…
Arms race
Like most documentaries, Britain’s Nuclear Bomb: The Inside Story (BBC4, Wednesday) began by boasting about all the exclusives it would…
Beyond comprehension
The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Belief and Beyond Belief’ season is drawing to a close, without making it in any degree…
Isaiah Firebrace (centre) with Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasy
It’s been going since 1956. The 62nd season of the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Kiev, Ukraine, starts…
Cover stories
These days, Aubrey Powell is a genial 70-year-old who can be found most mornings having breakfast at his local Knightsbridge…
Girl power
Lady Macbeth, which has nothing to do with boring old Shakespeare beyond indicating a certain archetype (huge sighs of relief…
A familiar Ring
Herbert von Karajan established the Easter Festival in Salzburg 50 years ago with a production of Die Walküre that is…
Revolutionary road
Cairo is deceptively calm, says Egyptian film-maker Mohamed Diab. ‘People were so scared from the fighting in the streets that…
A square dance in Heaven
It’s 500 years since Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, sparking…
The real deal
The other day I had a very dispiriting conversation with a TV industry insider. It turns out that everything you…
Ray Davies: Americana
There is some surprise that after all these years Ray Davies has turned his attention to America. He is the…
Mission impossible?
Just before Peter Donohoe played the last of Alexander Scriabin’s ten piano sonatas at the Guildhall’s Milton Court on Sunday,…
Fallen angel
The Adèsives were out in force at Covent Garden last Monday for the UK première of their hero’s third opera,…
Pleasing pedantry
Christopher Hampton’s 1968 play The Philanthropist examines the romantic travails of Philip, a cerebral university philologist, forced to choose between…
Psycho thriller
Psychological thrillers — or ‘thrillers’ as they used to be known — have become almost as ubiquitous on television as…
Passion indeed
‘The dripping blood our only drink/ The bloody flesh our only food…/ Again, in spite of that, we call this…
Take a bow
Monteverdi 450 — the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists’ tour of his three operas to 33 cities across two…
Boozy bard
Even the Bard’s staunchest fans admit that ‘Shakespeare comedy’ may be an oxymoron. That’s the assumption of the touring company…
John Olsen, Sydney Sun (or King Sun) 1965
His work has been there for all our adult lives; John Olsen’s artistic vision has become part of our visual…
Acting up
Gemma Arterton’s new film, Their Finest, is about second world war propaganda. Her character, who is bookish and sensitive, is…
All dressed up, nowhere to go
Rules Don’t Apply is Warren Beatty’s first film appearance in 15 years and his first as writer, director, producer and…
