Category : Culture

TV tonight: detective duo McDonald and Dodds are back with a bang

A hot air balloon crash sees the unlikely pair investigating a group of 80s stars. Plus: Attenborough’s Life in Colour begins. Here’s what to watch this evening Continue reading...

George M Johnson: 'Queer characters tend to die at the end of books'

The bestselling author on their memoir about growing up gay and black in the US, helping others to find healing, and the power of non-binary young adultsGeorge M Johnson is a writer and activist whose first book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, is a memoir abo...

Dom La Nena: Tempo review – lighthearted enchantment

(Six Degrees)Time flies as the Brazilian cellist-singer-songwriter flits between genres and languages with winning easeDom La Nena, the stage name of Brazilian cellist Dominique Pinto, means “Dom the Little Girl”, an allusion to Pinto’s time as a chi...

Jessie Ware: ‘I miss dancing and sweat, touch and body odour’

The singer, 36, on not going raving, her inspirational mum – and being licked by David ChappelleLike most Jewish homes, ours was loud and emotional. And that was just when we were deciding what to eat. My parents separated when I was nine and my sibl...

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: Carnage review – the firebrand returns

(Goliath/AWAL)The grief remains, but Cave’s hunger for retribution is back too, heightened at every turn by Ellis’s strings, on this wild, writerly masterpieceIt’s been some time since a swaggering Nick Cave has threatened his listeners with violence...

'I felt a strange grief when I found my birth mother': Jackie Kay on The Adoption Papers

The poet explains how researching her history led her to tell the story from three perspectives: the birth mother, the adoptive mother and the daughterIn one way, I’d been writing the poems in The Adoption Papers for my whole life. I’d been making up...

Bath BachFest review – the brilliant master and his assorted cousins

Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon; live streamThe Cardinall’s Musick, Rachel Podger, Adrian Brendel and more shone in this year’s dynamic online programme of all things BachSound trumpets, bang drums. Concerts and festivals, the real thing, ar...

‘Record companies have me on a dartboard’: the man making millions buying classic hits

Hit songs can be a better investment than gold – and by snapping up the rights, Merck Mercuriadis has become the most disruptive force in musicMerck Mercuriadis had a good Christmas. On Christmas Day, the No 1 song in the UK was LadBaby’s Don’t Stop...

Classical home listening: Rachmaninov comes full circle; and an ear-bending piano recital

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin shine in the composer’s first symphony. Plus, ear-bending variations from Clare Hammond• The 1897 premiere of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 1 is always described as “a fiasco”. Whatever the reason – one...

It's grin out there: why have lockdown deniers co-opted the smiley face?

The blissed-out symbol of acid house has been given a new meaning in 2021. Should ravers be up in arms?It was an emoji before emojis were born – an early viral image of the media age. The smiley can probably be traced back to 1960s US kids’ TV show T...

Children's books roundup: the best new picture books and novels

A hilarious spy mission; a maritime adventure; a lipstick rampage; a celebration of black youth and moreThere’s a bumper crop of brilliant books for those aged eight and above this month, including Vi Spy, Licence to Chill (Chicken House), first in a...

Streaming: enjoy a feast of new films at Glasgow film festival 2021

This year’s virtual edition of an often overlooked festival is streaming an exceptional lineup of acclaimed movies yet to be seen in the UKWhile cinemas and their release calendars continue to hover uncertainly in the pandemic confusion, film festiva...

'Where are the next Tom Cruises?': how the internet changed celebrity

In our social media-saturated society, modern fame has become fragmented resulting in a galaxy of stars vying for our attentionModern Toss on fameWho is the most famous person in the world? According to Google – top of “1,040,000,000” answers – is Dw...

A Still Life by Josie George review – memoir of a mystery illness

The honesty and clarity of the writing in this account elevates what could have been a ‘misery memoir’ into something moving and joyousJosie George doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. The doctors don’t know either, though for 30-odd years they’ve bee...

Lady Gaga's bulldogs returned unharmed after kidnapping

Dogs were dropped off at a police station in Los Angeles, while dog walker shot in the attack is recoveringTwo French bulldogs belonging to Lady Gaga that were stolen at gunpoint earlier this week have been recovered unharmed, police in Los Angeles h...