Why novelist Joanna Trollope is happier living alone

She’s often written about the complications of domestic relationships and it’s not always plain sailing. So it’s perhaps not surprising that best-selling novelist Joanna Trollope shows a certain knowing level of...

Tutu's 89th birthday provides platform for peace and climate change campaigns

Messages of congratulation poured in last week as Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his 89th birthday.Well-wishers included the Nelson Mandela Foundation who called him ‘a paragon of peace” while South African President...

Paying tribute to the late great Nicholas Parsons

What a joy it was hearing BBC Radio 4’s tribute to the late, great broadcasting legend, Nicholas Parsons on Saturday - the day that would have been his 97th birthday.When Nicholas died in January this year it seemed somehow...

Curtains up on Gyles Brandreth and The 7 Secrets of Happiness

Fresh from paying tribute on BBC Radio 4 to his old friend Nicholas Parsons, the multi-talented Gyles Brandreth is gearing up to launch Curtains Up, our exciting new series of live-streamed online shows. Actor, writer, wit...

Watching paint dry can be a real pleasure - just ask Dame Joan

Good to hear that the indomitable talent that is journalist and broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell will be back in action in a new series of Portrait Artist of the Year which starts on Sky Arts this week.The 87-year-old Labour...

Climate change on agenda for 20th Tutu international peace lecture

The 10th Annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture gets underway on Wednesday (Archbishop Tutu’s 89th birthday) with an emphasis firmly on combatting the fast-approaching horrors of climate change.Speakers...

Curtains up on live-streamed speakers for Clive Conway Productions

We know how much you have missed the opportunity to see our talented and clever speakers at live venues around the country.Fear not, we are now making them available on-line and via on-demand services. The new series called...

Theatre's struggle with locked bailout funds and the death of panto

The battle to save our theatres continues to face mounting problems and for many venues both money and time is running out.We learnt at the weekend that none of the £1.57 billion bailout promised to the arts sector has yet been...

Cake from Mary Berry and golden memores of a song from Joan Baez

Journalist, broadcaster and one of the most familiar voices to several generations of BBC Radio 4 listeners, Dame Jenni Murray, finally left Woman’s Hour last week.Her departure on Thursday, after 33 years with the programme,...

The Sussex's Southern Africa trip was worth every penny

There’s been a bit of a brouhaha over news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s trip to South Africa last year cost nearly £250,000Can’t think why. I’d say it was worth every penny. Not only did the couple’s journey take them...

Theatres continue the struggle to survive but need more help

Step by step theatres are struggling to re-open after being hammered by lockdown. It’s marvellous to see venues gradually testing the water with a variety of socially distanced performances. But the truth is that for every venue...

All star tribute to Sir Noel Coward promoting theatre charities

Grand to hear that our dear friend and regular contributor to Clive Conway Productions, Patricia Routledge, now in her nineties, is among the stellar thespian line-up featured in a new online event marking the 100th...

End of a broadcasting era as Jenni Murray leaves Woman's

An old chapter closes and new one begins this week as veteran broadcaster Jenni Murray steps down after 33 years with the BBC as presenter of Radio 4’s Woman's Hour.Even though Dame Jenni and her co-presenter Jane...

Apartheid era photographer Jurgen Schadeberg dies aged 89

Jurgen Schadeberg was a crucial eye-witness to South Africa’s struggle for freedom during apartheid era and what he saw was shared with the world. Photojournalist Schadeberg, who has died aged 89, was a powerful pictorial...

Battle to re-open theatres continues as further lockdown is threatened

Rising coronavirus infection rates and the fear of a further lockdown presented the latest hurdle to be cleared by those working to re-open our theatres this week.The pandemic has seen venues closed and productions postponed or...

Novelist Joanna Trollope guests at virtual literature festivel

Grand to see that this summer’s annual Petworth Festival, which like others seemed doomed because of the pandemic, is going ahead - albeit in virtual form.Tickets have gone on sale for a 2020 Petworth Festival Special with a...

Actor Robert Powell backs technology lifeline for children's hospices

Our good friend the esteemed stage and screen actor Robert Powell’s new position as patron of the charity Lifelites couild not have come at a more important time.For Lifelites supports life-limited and disabled children in...

Archbishop Tutu and his wife escape unharmed from fire at retirement village

We are delighted and relieved to hear that Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah Tutu escaped unharmed from a fire last week at the retirement village where they live near the seaside town of Hermanus, south east of...

The Last Night of the stripped down Proms

I watched the Last Night of the Proms at the weekend and wondered at the imagination and inventiveness that had gone into producing this stripped back but impeccably planned affair.It offered some great moments and the...

The fight to get the theatre world back on track continues

Can it really be only a week since culture secretary Oliver Dowden was talking about getting our theatres open again by Christmas?Hopefully some smaller venues will indeed be regularly staging live theatre again but for many...

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