Arts
Business as usual
I should probably nail my colours to the mast and state that The Office is possibly my favourite TV sitcom…
Young at heart
The second half of the Bolshoi tour brought much fresher fare than the first: following the ubiquitous warhorses Don Quixote…
The Capability controversy
In a piece of light verse from the 1770s ‘Dame Nature’ — out strolling ‘one bright day’ — bumps into…
The Capability controversy
In a piece of light verse from the 1770s ‘Dame Nature’ — out strolling ‘one bright day’ — bumps into…
1976 and all that
Forty years ago, I spent 14 hours in a large field near the A1 in Hertfordshire. I had just taken…
1976 and all that
Forty years ago, I spent 14 hours in a large field near the A1 in Hertfordshire. I had just taken…
Words of wisdom
Dominic Frisby is an actor best known for voicing the booking.com adverts (‘Booking dot com, booking dot yeah’). Voiceover specialists…
Words of wisdom
Dominic Frisby is an actor best known for voicing the booking.com adverts (‘Booking dot com, booking dot yeah’). Voiceover specialists…
What’s love got to do with it?
Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades is probably his greatest opera, certainly the one in which his characteristic strengths are on…
What’s love got to do with it?
Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades is probably his greatest opera, certainly the one in which his characteristic strengths are on…
Super human
‘We think we’re in charge of this stuff but we’re not,’ said Quincy Jones, the composer, arranger, jazz trumpeter, musical…
Super human
‘We think we’re in charge of this stuff but we’re not,’ said Quincy Jones, the composer, arranger, jazz trumpeter, musical…
Rio, Rio
Stuff I have learnt after two solid weeks watching the Olympics on TV. 1. Tennis and golf shouldn’t be Olympic…
John Armstrong
‘What is art for?’ is a question too rarely asked. The question is posed, and answered, in the book Art…
Dorset’s winning formula
Dorset Opera seems to receive far less coverage than the rest of the country-house summer shows, although it is in…
Recycling the avant-garde
One overcast afternoon in late July I took a train to Norfolk. It seemed a good time and place to…
The decade of Delia
Proof that someone has really made it as a TV historian comes, I would suggest, when they join the likes…
Funny is dangerous
‘I’m off now,’ says Michael Heath, signing off from his selection of Desert Island Discs on Radio 4, ‘to go…
Requiem for a designer dream
Threnody. Dirge. Lament. Epitaph. Elegy. Wake. There are so many English terms to describe the passing of people and things…
Tartan-ing up the arts
Many years ago an arts spokesperson for the SNP launched an extraordinary attack on Scottish Opera, saying, ‘If push comes…
Northern exposure
As the festival grows, the good acts are harder to find and the prices keep rising to meet the throngs…
Oven-ready
Todd Solondz’s Wiener-Dog is billed as a ‘dark comedy’ although it is far more dark than comic. If pressed to…
Requiem for a designer dream
Threnody. Dirge. Lament. Epitaph. Elegy. Wake. There are so many English terms to describe the passing of people and things…
Oven-ready
Todd Solondz’s Wiener-Dog is billed as a ‘dark comedy’ although it is far more dark than comic. If pressed to…
Recycling the avant-garde
One overcast afternoon in late July I took a train to Norfolk. It seemed a good time and place to…
