Arts
The Dagenham Dustbin
For those of us who find passion in national iconography, this is a melancholy historical moment. It’s a very bad…
Weaving magic
Tapestry, papal and princely, never quite went away. Today it satisfies a need for conspicuous displays of skill of the…
Weaving magic
Tapestry, papal and princely, never quite went away. Today it satisfies a need for conspicuous displays of skill of the…
London pride
The trend for documentary portraits of individual cities assembled from archive footage continues with Julien Temple’s London: The Modern Babylon,…
London pride
The trend for documentary portraits of individual cities assembled from archive footage continues with Julien Temple’s London: The Modern Babylon,…
Captivating kaleidoscope
When Philippe Decouflé first introduced the idea of sheer fun into the deadly serious business of postmodern dance-making, sceptics predicted…
All that jazz
What London can give jazz music — beyond an audience in its concert halls — is a setting to match…
All that jazz
What London can give jazz music — beyond an audience in its concert halls — is a setting to match…
Mixed bag
Last year I raved about Birmingham Royal Ballet, their artistic drive, their freshness, their impeccable artistic eclecticism and, not least,…
21st-century Disney
When, in 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, his radical arrangement of animations set to classical music, he fancied that he…
21st-century Disney
When, in 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, his radical arrangement of animations set to classical music, he fancied that he…
Blurring boundaries
Each of the Buddhist monks’ faces tells a variation on the same story. One simmers with fury, another sags with…
A step away from buying toothpaste
Fifty years ago it was not possible to bid at auction via the telephone — that first historic telephone bid…
Fact and fantasy
Britain’s country houses were constantly in the news a generation ago. In 1974 The Destruction of the Country House, an…
Blurring boundaries
Each of the Buddhist monks’ faces tells a variation on the same story. One simmers with fury, another sags with…
Twin peaks
According to an old ballet commonplace, no one can beat the Russians when it comes to Swan Lake. Biased and…
A step away from buying toothpaste
Fifty years ago it was not possible to bid at auction via the telephone — that first historic telephone bid…
Wheels of change
Bicycles can be powerful images in cinema. Like the 1948 masterpiece Ladri di Biciclette, Wadjda, the first film ever to…
Wheels of change
Bicycles can be powerful images in cinema. Like the 1948 masterpiece Ladri di Biciclette, Wadjda, the first film ever to…
Sex and the city
We don’t do burlesque here. We do bawdy, Benny Hill, end-of-pier prurience instead. Montmartre may have the Moulin Rouge, but…
Sex and the city
We don’t do burlesque here. We do bawdy, Benny Hill, end-of-pier prurience instead. Montmartre may have the Moulin Rouge, but…
Building on the past
London was an industrial city until remarkably recently. It seems extraordinary now, but Bankside Power Station was built in 1947,…
Incredible string band
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain are performing at the Albert Hall: playing their tiny instruments in a very big…
Incredible string band
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain are performing at the Albert Hall: playing their tiny instruments in a very big…
The place to be
A display of drawings by 20th-century sculptors is a welcome event, and the multi-levelled, multi-functional Kings Place provides just the…
