Arts
‘Ashtray Annie’
This year marks the centenary of a pianist whom London orchestral players nicknamed ‘Ashtray Annie’. Only at the keyboard did…
My addiction to the bullet train
Stephen Bayley explains why he has become addicted to Japan’s Shinkansen
The best of the Edinburgh Fringe
Rain whimpers from Edinburgh’s skies. The sodden tourists look like aliens in their steamed-up ponchos as they scurry and rustle…
The Inbetweeners 2 is as filthy as a teenage boy – and it's hilarious
The first Inbetweeners film made £45 million at the box office, and was such an unexpected smash there was always…
The perfect excuse to get out all the best Ravilious china
A day trip to the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne is a summer pleasure, and two concurrent shows are proving…
How Richard Wilson made Wales beautiful
‘I recollect nothing so much as a solemn — bright — warm — fresh landscape by Wilson, which swims in…
Ballet’s super couple should stick to the classical repertoire
Last week, the feast of long-awaited dance events on offer echoed bygone days when London life was dominated by the…
Strauss and Hofmannsthal deserve better from the Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival’s reputation might largely be one of cultural conservatism, but it made an impressive commitment to new works…
Scoops, snark and jihad – this is Vice News's war
War can reshape the medium of television. The First Gulf War was a landmark moment in broadcasting: CNN had reporters…
Why is Radio 3 still leaderless?
It’s happened almost by stealth but the number of listeners to 6 Music has now overtaken Radio 3, creeping up…
Less cuddly, more creepy: The Human Factor at the Hayward Gallery
Jeff Koons’s ‘Bear and Policeman’ has been used to advertise the Hayward Gallery’s latest show The Human Factor (until 7…
Culture buff
Popes come and popes go but generally not after only 33 days; which is what happened to Albino Luciani, elected…
Space invaders
Jeff Koons’s ‘Bear and Policeman’ has been used to advertise the Hayward Gallery’s latest show The Human Factor (until 7…
Space invaders
Jeff Koons’s ‘Bear and Policeman’ has been used to advertise the Hayward Gallery’s latest show The Human Factor (until 7…
Great expectations
Last week, the feast of long-awaited dance events on offer echoed bygone days when London life was dominated by the…
'They took me in like I was their son': Wynton Marsalis on jazz's great tradition
Martin Gayford talks to Wynton Marsalis about the rigours of playing jazz
My daughter wants to know why you haven't heard of the Jayhawks
One of the many delightful aspects of having children is that you can get them to do things you are…
Jonas Kaufmann's illness, a muddled production – nothing can stop Bavarian State Opera's La forza del destino
Rather than brave the boos and the first reprise of Frank Castorf’s half-hearted Ring at Bayreuth, I decided to pay…
A lost opportunity to show John Nash at his best
John Northcote Nash (1893–1977) was the younger brother of Paul Nash (1889–1946), and has been long overshadowed by Paul, though…
Allergic to blockbusters? See Wakolda
Wakolda is not a sunny film for a sunny day, just so you’re aware, but as there is so little…
Romeo and Juliet: a Mariinsky masterclass
According to some textbooks, one thing the fathers of Soviet choreography hastened to remove from ballet was that awkward-looking language…
Sorry, Gillian Anderson, but you've caught the wrong Streetcar
Streetcar. One word is enough to conjure an icon. Tennessee Williams’s finest play, written in the 1940s, is about a…
Gomorrah is gangsters without glamour – but it's still not as scary as Dance Moms
Gomorrah (Sky Atlantic, Monday), the new, must-see Mafioso series, started promisingly. We met two hoods — one young, shaven-headed, good-looking;…
Two lessons in listening
Our hearing is the first of our senses to develop while we are in the womb. It’s the first connection…
3,000 acts and no quality control – why the Edinburgh Fringe is the greatest (and patchiest) arts festival in the world
And they’re off. The mighty caravan of romantic desperadoes, radical egoists, stadium wannabes, struggling superstars and vanity crackheads is on…
