39 h. ago Welcome to Upper Lawn, the 60s Wiltshire retreat of brutalism’s first couple

Pioneering architects Alison and Peter Smithson’s no-frills glass box near the ruins of a grand 18th-century folly was an experiment, a second home and a ‘fairy story’ – all of which awaits whoever buys it next Upper Lawn is a weekend retreat in Wiltshire built by the late architects Alison and Peter Smithson for themselves and their family and used by them from 1959 to 1982. It’s a place of obvious delight, thanks to a garden enclosed by old stone walls in which it stands, a clump of grand old beech trees just outside, and broad views of sweeping countryside beyond. The house itself is a well-proportioned, thoughtfully detailed, somewhat rustic glass box that makes good use of the transparency and openness that modernist building methods made possible. It’s also a work of less obvious riches, a material diary of building and dwelling, a three-dimensional essay on the passage of time. Now it is being put up for sale by its owners for the past 23 years, the graphic designer Ian Cartl...

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3 d. ago 'Let the waltz begin!' Vienna's ball season has 18th century roots, but teens now go online to dance

From its 18th century roots, Vienna’s celebrated ball season has evolved and now involves teenagers learning to waltz by watching YouTube videos and ladies shedding their elbow-length gloves to better swipe on smartphones

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4 d. ago St Vincent and the Grenadines buys island central to Garifuna culture

Descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous people interned on Baliceaux in 18th century hail ‘historic victory’Members of the Garifuna community are celebrating “a historic and long-awaited victory” after the Caribbean nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) announced the purchase of a privately owned island where thousands of their ancestors perished from disease and starvation.The uninhabited island of Baliceaux has long held great significance for the Garifuna people, the descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous Kalinago and Arawak people. Continue reading...

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5 d. ago Be grateful you’re still here: Germany’s rebuke of a grieving mother exposes its deepening anti

Emiş Gürbüz’s son was murdered in Hanau by a far right terrorist. Her plea for justice five years on drew an astonishing reaction from the stateThe first time I went to Hanau, I was creeped out by how ordinary it was. This mid-sized city of 100,000 people right in the geographical centre of Germany, looked and felt like many other places in western Germany I had been to: built around a bombed and reconstructed old town, expanded by a soulless mall with a multiplex cinema, surrounded by a vast industrial area and neighbourhoods separated along class lines. What the city prides itself on is that the Brothers Grimm grew up here in the late 18th century before they started publishing folk tales such as Cinderella and The Frog Prince. Since 2020, however, Hanau stands for something else: it’s the place where a far-right gunman killed nine people he assumed to be immigrants, and afterwards killed his mother and himself.The attack on 19 February of that year not only left a deep wound with...

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1 week ago Boffins spend 10 years painstakingly recreating Mozart's face using shape of his skull

Clever boffins think they have created the best likeness of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart since the still-revered musical genius died towards the end of the 18th century

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1 week ago Tornado review – windswept samurai western set in apocalyptic Scotland

The second feature from John Maclean is an almost surreal tale of itinerant martial arts performers and a band of thieves in 18th-century Scotland John Maclean’s new movie is a dour, pessimistic, almost surrealistically downbeat revenge western set in Scotland in the late 18th century – but it could as well be happening in some post-apocalyptic landscape of the distant future or on another planet. This is the follow-up to his debut Slow West, and as with that film it is shot by Robbie Ryan with music by Jed Kurzel (director Justin’s brother and collaborator). I have to admit, though, that this does not quite have the energy or the fluency of that previous film, perhaps not the same production resources either – and by comparison it is more strenuously contrived. Yet the pure strangeness of the movie commands attention and there is a charismatic lead performance by Japanese actor-musician Mitsuki Kimura, or Kôki.She plays a dancer called Tornado, who travels around what looks like ut...

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2 w. ago Beautiful 18th Century pub less than an hour from Manchester gives update on reopening

The venue, which has previously been described as a "quintessential British pub", has been at the heart of the idyllic village for over 230 years

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2 w. ago Waltz this way: rival venues in Vienna compete to celebrate Johann Strauss’s 200th birthday

As the Austrian capital honours the legacy of its dance king, the race is on to attract the most puntersThe music of Johann Strauss streams through Vienna like the stately Danube. Even the syllables of the composer’s name beat out the rhythm of a waltz, as all Austrian dance teachers know. In their lessons, the words “Jo-hann Strauss” are often swapped in to replace the conventional “one, two, three” step count.Viennese children learn to waltz just like they learn to ride a bike, so the muscle-memory never leaves them. Just as well, because the city is still famous as the home of a 19th-century dance craze that shaped its international image. In this 200th anniversary year of the birth of the “waltz king”, there are rival bids jostling to become the focus of the swirling celebrations. Continue reading...

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2 w. ago LILY ALLEN reveals she thought her voice had been stolen by AI for a dance track

A dance track titled Somebody Else was released online last week with vocals uncannily like Ms Allen's set to a backing track in the style of the British DJ Fred Again.

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2 w. ago Nike release remake of iconic Premier League ball for rest of season

The T90 Aerow I is making a comeback before Puma become the official Premier League ball supplier

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3 w. ago Cheers! 18th century village pub pulling pints again after sudden closure

The pub has reopened under a new landlady after shutting suddenly last year

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