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She Could Have Danced All Night
Two singers–from opposite ends of the spectrum–take the limelight
Living National Treasure
Have you ever wondered how they put the letters in a stick of rock?
Why I Find Beards Weird
I feeL fortunate to have found my life mate in the brief era between 1910 and 1990 when it was unfashionable for men to have beards, because I like a clean-shaven man, as I like a pruned rose garden: Nature teeming, but kept at bay.
Business As Usual At Badminton
The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials is one of Britain’s greatest sporting traditions. Kate Green provides a preview
Matters Of The Heart
Another Old Master is discovered in a country house and two of Sir William Nicholson’s Sussex Downs paintings reach contrasting prices
Right Royal Triumphs
The Royal Family is invariably treated sympathetically and affectionately on stage, whatever the political hue of the playwright
The Icing On The Cake
Who is the London-based baker responsible for creating Prince Harry and Meghan’s lemon-and-elderflower wedding cake?
Cry God For Harry!
On his 18th birthday, Prince Harry was granted his own coat-of-arms, but will the Royal couple express their marriage through heraldry
The Road Less Travelled
What’s harder than tackling the Coast to Coast path? Doing it with a teenage mule in tow, discovers Hugh Thomson.
The Best And Worst Of 2017
After watching new productions at a rate of about four a week, our theatre critic presents the brilliantly good, the excruciatingly bad and the movingly sad of this year
No Wilting Rose
Peyton Skipwith enjoys an exhibition that reasserts the reputation of a leading female figure in Victorian art
A Walk In The Parks
A LONG with the Bodleian Library and the Covered Market, one of my main reasons for staying in Oxford is the University Parks. Despite its name, the Parks is, in both senses, singular, just one outstanding expanse, first laid out in 1864. Enjoyed by Gown and Town alike, its 70 or so acres encompass groves, gravelled walks, areas of garden both informal and intensively cultivated, sweeps of turf both long and shorn and sports pitches.A LONG with the Bodleian Library and the Covered Market, one of my main reasons for staying in Oxford is the University Parks. Despite its name, the Parks is, in both senses, singular, just one outstanding expanse, first laid out in 1864. Enjoyed by Gown and Town alike, its 70 or so acres encompass groves, gravelled walks, areas of garden both informal and intensively cultivated, sweeps of turf both long and shorn and sports pitches.
Back To The Future
I AM writing this in front of a peat fire with what Burns calls a ‘gude-willie waught’ following a long, solitary tramp through sodden countryside. I’ve reached an age when all weather is good weather, but, even so, I’m glad to be indoors for the night. The shortest day is behind us. Those resolutions with which we will doubtless, in the fullness of time, be paving the road to Hell are before us. All is right with the world.
Bad Apples And Good Eggs
ANNA and I have just spent 24 hours in Liverpool, where we were totally charmed by immaculately clean streets, two knockout cathedrals, good coffee, the Tate, sunshine on the Mersey, the richest of histories explained in thought-provoking museums and excellent vintage shops. We used SplitMyFare to buy train tickets in a money-saving exercise that gave us 28 tickets for two trains.
In The Footsteps Of Lorna Doone
The famous book captures a long-gone Exmoor, but there’s still a feeling of wilderness out on the open moor.
Many Happy Returns
There’s topical resonance in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, which, like the tale of the Demon Barber, contains a strong morality theme.
Tunnel Vision
On the eve of the Channel Tunnel’s 25th birthday, Adam Jacot de Boinod applauds an extraordinary feat of engineering that was more than 200 years in the making.
A Lot Of Bottle
Good for farmers and good for the planet, the milk round is back with a 21st-century twist..
How To Become A Seasoned Pro
Navigating the summer Season can be a social minefield. Luckily, Rupert Uloth is on hand with 39 steps to guide us through England’s time to shine–even if the sun chooses not to.
Come Fly With Me
Harmless hoverflies take on the appearance of dangerous or toxic insects in a clever and highly effective subterfuge to keep predators away, discovers Ian Morton
May Day Muguet
The fragrant, waxen white bells of the native woodland gem lily of the valley, which ring in the merry month of May, symbolise romance and carry good fortune.
Scooby Dooby Doo, I Love You
THE Subaru XV is another strange concoction from the bestiary of the Dadaist Japanese car-makers.
Upstairs To Downstairs
The gradual decline of an old Catholic family helped preserve this magnificent manor house, finds John Martin Robinson
Searching For A New Movement
IT’S always good to think you were there at the start of something big, at the vanguard of a new movement.
If The Cap Fits
It’s no longer written in law that you must wear one, but, for some, it might just as well be. Rob Crossan explores the endless appeal of the flat cap
The Dahlia List
The chase is on: if you want to grow the best dahlias in your borders this year, you need to get your orders in soon, says Val Bourne
Have Violin, Will Travel
Now’s the time to book your musical holiday, says Pippa Cuckson
Man And Machine
Charles Darwent welcomes an exhibition dedicated to the French painter/film-maker, who took inspiration from mechanical modern life to develop his own take on Cubism
Chicken Fit For A King
Poached with slices of black truffle in a broth flavoured with tarragon and Madeira, there’s no finer way to treat a bird
A Man With A Van
February sees John Lewis-Stempel solve his lack of transport by purchasing a Citroën Berlingo–the French farmer’s vehicle of choice