34 h. ago I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally audiobook review – the life of a hospitality legend

Richard E Grant narrates the restaurateur’s candid memoir about his life’s highs, lows and biggest regrets – including barring James CordenThe memoir from Keith McNally, the British-born restaurateur behind celebrated New York establishments including The Odeon and Balthazar, begins bleakly with its author attempting suicide at his summer house in Martha’s Vineyard in 2018. We then rewind to 20 months earlier when, on a Saturday morning, he took his youngest children to the National Gallery in London. While looking at a painting of Jesus being betrayed by Judas, “I sensed my body beginning to show signs of betraying me: a strange metallic tingling started to pinch my fingertips.” McNally was experiencing the beginnings of a stroke that would leave him with impaired speech and paralysis on one side of his body.I Regret Almost Everything sees McNally, now 74, reflecting on his health along with his long career, moving from bellboy at the Hilton hotel in London to teen actor – aged 16,...

Politics

3 d. ago Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's last words about happy marriage before shock split

Kidman gushed over her husband of 19 years back in June as they celebrated their wedding anniversary. And just four days ago, she was still wearing the engagement ring Urban proposed to her with.

Events

8 d. ago My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende audiobook review – portrait of a fiercely independent young woman

Sent from San Francisco to report on the war in late-19th century Chile, a young writer embarks on a journey of self-discovery in this tale of love, loss and liberationSet in the late 19th century and inspired by the Chilean civil war which ravaged the country in 1891, Isabel Allende’s historical drama tells of a young woman born illegitimately in San Francisco’s Mission District. Emilia del Valle’s surname comes from her Chilean father, an aristocrat who seduced her mother when she was a novice nun and left before their child was born. Emilia owes her fiercely independent spirit to her liberal-minded stepfather Francisco Claro, whom she calls Papo, who encourages his stepdaughter to think for herself.In her late teens, Emilia writes a series of successful pulp fiction novels under the male pen name Brandon J Price. By the age of 23, she is a columnist at San Francisco’s Daily Examiner; still writing as a man, she longs to do more serious work. Eventually, she is commissioned to tra...

Culture

9 d. ago Breathtaking twist over Pheobe Bishop's house of horror where she lived out her final days in vile squalor

The body of the missing teenager was found in Queensland 's Good Night Scrub National Park on June 6, 22 days after she vanished on her way to Bundaberg Airport.

Society

1 week ago Phone thief who viciously attacked DPD delivery driver in broad daylight is jailed for more than a year

A phone thief was jailed after attacking a DPD delivery driver in Derby last June in broad daylight.

Events

1 week ago Scots mum urges organ donation discussion after 'miracle' son receives liver transplant

Arlene McNab first suspected her son Zac was not well a few days after he was born three weeks premature in June 2022, when she noticed a bruise on his leg.

Politics

1 week ago Mum demands organ donation discussion after young son’s liver transplant

Arlene McNab first suspected her son Zac was not well a few days after he was born three weeks premature in June 2022, when she noticed a bruise on his leg.

Politics

2 w. ago Murderer who killed again after being released from prison will die behind bars

Direece Roche stabbed 23-year-old Adam Steele to death on New Year’s Day in 2011. In June 2024, just nine months after being released, he stabbed his great uncle 77 times

Events

2 w. ago The Young Man by Annie Ernaux audiobook review – anatomy of an affair

The Nobel winner explores the dynamics of her relationship with a student 30 years her junior in an intimate, taboo-breaking memoirIn Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical story, translated by Alison L Strayer, the author recalls a past affair with a student who was 30 years her junior. “Often I have made love to force myself to write I hoped that orgasm, the most violent end to waiting that can be, would make me feel certain that there is no greater pleasure than writing a book.” In other words, she is keen to break her writer’s block. But, to both their surprise, the affair becomes “a relationship that we longed to take to the limit, without really knowing what that meant”.The Young Man is Ernaux’s shortest memoir yet, clocking just over half an hour in audio. But brevity doesn’t impede her ability to get to the heart of the intimate dynamics or external pressures of a situation that many others view as taboo. The couple get disapproving looks in restaurants, which, rather than leaving ...

Politics

2 w. ago LA police fired over a thousand projectiles at protesters in a single day

Los Angeles police officers fired over a thousand projectiles at Trump administration protesters on a single day in June

Events

3 w. ago I Love You, Byeee by Adam Buxton audiobook review – warm and witty whimsy

A chatty, self-deprecating memoir recalls the podcaster’s start in TV and his lifelong friendship with comedian and film-maker Joe CornishThe writer and comic Adam Buxton’s first memoir, Ramble Book, dug into his childhood and his relationship with his father, who featured as the cantankerous BaaadDad in Buxton’s 1990s pop culture series The Adam and Joe Show. I Love You, Byeee is the follow up in which he remembers his late mother, Valerie, and reflects on his TV career which began with him landing a job at Takeover TV, a showcase for new talent on Channel 4, where he brought in his childhood friend Joe Cornish.Fans of The Adam and Joe Show will find reminiscences about the pair’s toy movies, where they recreated films such as Titanic and Trainspotting, and their radio shows on XFM and 6Music. Buxton is candid about the strain of their working relationship and his feelings of insecurity when Cornish went off to direct his first film, Attack the Block, without him. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Dr Michael Mosley's widow Clare says she and their children returned to Greek island where he died on the anniversary of his death

The popular broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist was tragically found dead near the resort of Agia Marina on Symi last June, four days after he went missing while on a walk in searing 40C heat.

Events

3 w. ago Michael Mosley's wife reveals her devastating regret a year after his tragic death

Beloved TV doctor Michael Mosley died aged 67 after going missing during a walk on the Greek island of Symi in June last year; his body was found days later, with heatstroke suspected as the cause

Events

4 w. ago Royal Military Police officer avoids jail for drunkenly groping colleague hours after attending course on 'unacceptable sexual behaviour'

Lt Liam Hulkes, 31, whose job involved investigating Army sex crimes, sexually assaulted his victim during a drinking session following the study day last June.

Events

4 w. ago Three Days in June by Anne Tyler audiobook review – a masterclass in marital disharmony

A mother reflects on the breakdown of her marriage as she attends her daughter’s wedding, in a novella that brilliantly depicts family dynamicsAt the start of Three Days in June, Gail Baines, a 61-year-old teacher, has a meeting with her school head, who informs her she is about to retire. Gail assumes she is next in line for the job, but the head tells her she doesn’t have the people skills and asks if she has considered retirement herself. Affronted, she walks out of the school and from her job without collecting the photo on her desk of her daughter, Debbie, who is about to get married. After Gail gets home, her ex-husband, Max, arrives. He is staying with her for the wedding weekend and tells her he has forgotten to bring a suit – although he has brought a cat. Not for the first time, Gail wonders “why it was that I had so many irritating people in my life”.Set in Baltimore, Anne Tyler’s novella spans the before, during and after of Debbie’s wedding. Told through Gail’...

Politics