Arts
Radio 4's All In The Mind is a perfect example of why we still need the licence fee
Best line of the week came on Monday from the composer John Tavener, and was given added poignancy by the…
The Discerning Eye show is full of great art pieces. I know because I chose them
If you want to buy a picture or a piece of sculpture and have lots of money or not very…
Eye witness
If you want to buy a picture or a piece of sculpture and have lots of money or not very…
Eye witness
If you want to buy a picture or a piece of sculpture and have lots of money or not very…
Seasonal treats
There was a time when the term ‘world première’ was not as fashionable as it is these days. Great works…
'You can't handle the truth!' — the greatest courtroom dramas of all time
As a new production of Twelve Angry Men opens in the West End, Robert Gore-Langton names his favourite courtroom dramas
Keith Warner's Wozzeck doesn't make me as angry as it used to
When Keith Warner’s production of Berg’s Wozzeck was first produced at the Royal Opera, nine years ago, it made me…
How China's Bayeux Tapestry differs from ours
The V&A’s remarkable survey of Chinese painting begins quietly with a beautiful scroll depicting ‘Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk’,…
What my addiction to Chinese painting made me do
My addiction to Chinese landscape painting began in 1965 at the V&A, in a travelling exhibition of the Crawford Collection…
British empire? What British empire?
Here’s a tip for play-goers. When the curtain goes up on a garden, prepare for some feeble plotting. The glory…
Ryan Gosling couldn’t play Taki better than Taki
Seduced and Abandoned is both a satire on film-making and a love letter to film-making and a joy. A documentary…
Is there or isn't there a hanged man in 'Sun'?
Sun is one of those performances that confront reviewers with the eternal dilemma of whether or not it is appropriate…
Come to the Spectator office, Gareth Malone, and hear our 'Carmina Burana'
They’re now televising proceedings from the Court of Appeal. Great. As if I didn’t have enough to do already, keeping…
Morrissey can't even moan properly — here's a frontman who can
There is much to be said for Schadenfreude. (If it was edible, it would be a meal in a very…
You lost Aled Jones and Catherine Bott, Radio Three — but all is forgiven
It’s hard to stay cross with Radio 3 for long. Just when I thought the network had stretched my loyalty…
How we beat the Boche — at sidecar racing
There’s courage, there’s fearlessness, and then there’s the sort of sublime audacity you need to do something like sidecar racing.…
Light and shade
Sun is one of those performances that confront reviewers with the eternal dilemma of whether or not it is appropriate…
Double trouble
There’s courage, there’s fearlessness, and then there’s the sort of sublime audacity you need to do something like sidecar racing.…
Double trouble
There’s courage, there’s fearlessness, and then there’s the sort of sublime audacity you need to do something like sidecar racing.…
How I learned to start screaming and love the horror movie
Peter Hoskin looks forward to being scared witless courtesy of the BFI’s feast of Gothic cinema
'I was an arrogant 18-year-old': Daniel Harding on growing up
Michael Henderson talks to the youthful conductor Daniel Harding, who realises that the older he gets the more he has to learn
How to conduct a Tallis motet in a cardboard cathedral
To undertake a concert tour of New Zealand’s cathedrals at the moment is to be constantly reminded of the destructive…
Toffs rule!
This is a strange one. Simon Paisley Day’s new play feels like a conventional comedy of manners. Three couples pitch…
David Tennant plays Richard II like a casual hippie
Gregory Doran, now in command at Stratford in succession to Sir Michael Boyd, launches his regime with Richard II, intending…
Is Paul Klee really a great modern master?
There is a school of thought that sees Paul Klee (1879–1940) as more of a Swiss watchmaker than an artist,…
