51 h. ago ‘Their pursuits are the cigar and the siesta’: how two centuries of British writers helped forge our view of Spain

Laurie Lee and Robert Graves among ‘English-speaking Quixotes’ in new book celebrating literary love for all things SpanishAlmost 200 years ago, the pioneering British travel writer Richard Ford offered an observation that has been happily ignored by the legions of authors who have traipsed in his dusty footsteps across Spain, toting notebooks, the odd violin or Bible, and, of course, their own particular prejudices.“Nothing causes more pain to Spaniards”, Ford noted in his 1845 Handbook for Travellers in Spain, “than to see volume after volume written by foreigners about their country.” Continue reading...

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3 d. ago Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are in a 'crisis' as she 'hasn't got the status she craves' while Harry's hopes of reconciling with his family are 'totally unrealistic', royal author warns

British writer and former BBC journalist, Tom Bower has claimed he will reveal further bombshells about the couple in an upcoming book about the Sussexes'.

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8 d. ago ‘Beautifully, awfully funny’: why Withnail and I is my feelgood movie

The latest in our ongoing series of comfort movies is a pick for Bruce Robinson’s cult British comedyIn the words of its writer and director, Withnail and I is a comedy that “doesn’t know it’s funny”. To its star, it’s about “the nobility of failure”. It ends with its title character alone in the rain, his one friend gone, delivering a Hamlet soliloquy to an indifferent wolf. It’s my feelgood movie.Bruce Robinson’s British classic was released in 1987. He and Richard E Grant made the remarks above in 2007, at the British Film Institute. I was there, eager to hear Robinson discuss a movie based on his own experience. Themes abide. As he said recently about The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman, his imperishable novel about his brutal childhood: “It’s very funny but also sad as fuck.” Robinson’s first film was a novel before it was a screenplay. At the BFI, he said he knew he’d got his film right at an early screening, when a “girl sort of threw up, laughing”. She had a point. Withna...

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1 week ago Two injured girls, two functioning hands, and two bleeding souls: Captured Israeli girls describe how an almost telepathic bond they forged in captivity helped them face down unspeakable evil

In a truly remarkable set of pictures, the Daily Mail details the extraordinary sisterly bond of these exceptionally strong young women.

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2 w. ago Craig Revel Horwood claims dancing helped him forget ‘abuse at home’

The star discusses why he learnt to dance on his tour Revelation - Songs Boys Don’t Sing

Events

2 w. ago Craig Revel Horwood says dancing helped him ‘forget all of the abuse at home’

The Strictly judge said he talks about the alleged abuse he faced as a child in his new tour.

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2 w. ago Inside Prue Leith's early life as celebrity chef lifts the lid on her childhood and surprise at becoming a chef

The cookery writer and TV presenter, 85, tells Tom Parker Bowles about British Rail butties, beach barbecues and the dish she found hard to swallow

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3 w. ago Epic war film branded 'greatest ever made' with tragic Hollywood legend

Lawrence of Arabia is a classic adventure movie that was first released in 1962 and is based on the life of T.E. Lawrence, a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer

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4 w. ago What I learned from the woman who does 52 new things a year | Emma Beddington

I definitely can’t match her sense of adventure – and I find real pleasure in my daily routines. But it is time to escape my hummus-tinged comfort zoneAs part of my puny striving towards personal growth, I am choosing not to feel personally attacked by learning about York resident Sally Millington, who has been doing 52 new things a year since 2018. Millington’s 400-plus experiments span standup, bee-keeping, cliff-camping, jazz dance and busking dressed as a turkey (choose your own worst nightmare from that list). She’s clearly a force of nature and it’s an admirable commitment to getting out of your comfort zone. “Why not?” she told Radio York, explaining that her adventures helped to fuel her creative and critical thinking and forge connections with “amazing people I would never have ordinarily have met”.I struggled to stem the rising tide of inadequacy this threatened to unleash in me though, because I doubt I’ve done five new activities since 2018. I’m still struggling with the...

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