Arts
Glorious gallimaufry
Discoveries: Art, Science and Exploration at Two Temple Place (until 27 April) is like a giant cabinet of curiosities. Maps,…
Inspired by Bach
It appears that J.S. Bach’s music is to theatre-dance what whipped cream is to chocolate. Masterworks such as Trisha Brown’s…
Sacred songs
I love a good hymn, so long as I’m not expected to sing it. Lusty declarations of faith sound ridiculous…
Sacred songs
I love a good hymn, so long as I’m not expected to sing it. Lusty declarations of faith sound ridiculous…
Is it a good idea to splash money on European cities of culture?
Could splashing public money on city of culture initiatives make good business sense? William Cook reports
'Uproar!' The Ben Uri gallery punches above its weight
Last year saw the centenary of the London Group, a broad-based exhibiting body set up in a time of stylistic…
A World Elsewhere hints it's about Bill Clinton. But it's about Al Gore
Why, oh why, the producers ask, are the national press so reluctant to cover the London fringe? The snag is…
Don Giovanni at his unsexiest
Every time there’s a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni I have to ask the same question: why is this…
Dallas Buyers Club - Matthew McConaughey gives the best performance of anyone's career
Although you’ll have heard that Dallas Buyers Club is fantastic and Matthew McConaughey gives the performance of his career, I…
Prefab Sprout's comeback gives hope to the over-50s
Every musical career has its own narrative, and most of them include at least one comeback. To come back, you…
How did Colonel Gaddafi get away with such evil for so long?
What a vile piece of work Colonel Gaddafi was. For some of you, perhaps, this will be a statement of…
Some things are better heard on radio, than seen
A double dose of BBC1 drama at the weekend (Silent Witness, Casualty) left me wondering whether there’s a link between…
How to fight back when 'public art' is not for the public
In recent years contemporary art and regeneration have gone hand in hand. Works such as Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the…
Power to the people
In recent years contemporary art and regeneration have gone hand in hand. Works such as Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the…
Power to the people
In recent years contemporary art and regeneration have gone hand in hand. Works such as Antony Gormley’s ‘Angel of the…
The real thing
Every musical career has its own narrative, and most of them include at least one comeback. To come back, you…
The real thing
Every musical career has its own narrative, and most of them include at least one comeback. To come back, you…
The 'detestable, bombastic, egocentric' detective — Hercule Poirot lives on
Robert Gore-Langton on our love for fictional detectives — and especially Poirot
How Claudio Abbado bridged old and new
Not long ago the great conductors of classical music were general practitioners. They expected to give satisfactory interpretations of music…
Your best YouTube operatic experience ever
Anyone who frequents the internet will have come across YouTube and soon learned that what may have been planned as…
Can Lance Armstrong squirm? We don't know because The Armstrong Lie doesn't make him
Alex Gibney’s The Armstrong Lies is fascinating as far as it goes but it may not go as far as…
Sam Mendes's King Lear is a must-see for masochists
Directors appear to have two design options when approaching a Shakespeare tragedy. Woodstock or jackboot. Woodstock means papal robes, shoulder-length…
John Craxton was more gifted than the Fitzwilliam show suggests
It is often said of John Craxton (1922–2009) that he knew how to live well and considered this more important…
Jeremy Paxman's Great War is great. But is 2,500 hours of WW1 programming too much?
Why are we so fascinated by the first world war? As its 100th anniversary approaches, we’re already mired in arguments…
Radio 3 needs to stay relevant, and world music is just the ticket
When my colleague Charles Moore first began accusing Radio 3 of becoming ‘babyish’, and talking down to us as if…
