He started so he's finishing...18 years later

Despite there still being viewers of a certain age who think that Mastermind hasn’t been the same since the days of Magnus Magnussen, John Humphreys started hosting the show 18 long years ago.And in the grand tradition of the...

Tutu makes top five in list of world's most spiritually influential people

Great to see that Archbishop Desmond Tutu comes in at number five in the Watkins’ 2021 list of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People.The 89-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winning anti-apartheid activist and lifelong...

Trying to get performing arts back on track post pandemic and Brexit

The struggle to keep the world of performing arts firing on all cylinders continues. With theatres closed and the future looking bleak for many venues, the livelihoods of actors, musicians, dancers, technicians and theatre...

Chelsea Flower Show moves to Autumn

Look on the bright side. The prestigious annual Chelsea Flower Show may have been postponed to September but it opens up a whole new range of colourful possibilities for both exhibits and visitors.The change of season will...

Some Enchanted Evening and Prokfiev's 7th piano sonata - the inheritance tracks of Andrew Llloyd Webber

It was fascinating hearing Andrew Lloyd Webber delivering his ‘inheritance tracks’ on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live at the weekend.The impresario and composer whose long running shows have changed the history of musical theatre...

Tutu calls for mass vaccination as soon as possible

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pledged to have the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it is available to him and has urged others to do the same. In a message on the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation website, the 89-year-old said...

Historian Lucy Worsley explores the homelife of Jane Austen

With theatres closed and lockdown restrictions keeping us all at home far more, our Curtain Up series of online celebrity talks have provided a cultural lifeline.They have informed, entertain and have over the past three montbs...

Poetry for the working class and Berkoff inspired by Edgar Allan Poe

Actor, writer, director and sometime Clive Conway Productions speaker Steven Berkoff's latest book, Poems for the Working Class, has just been published and it’s written from an intriguing perspective. For Berkoff was born in the...

Music industry heavyweights call for visa-free EU travel for performers

Good to see conductor Simon Rattle, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and composer Harrison Birtwistle among more than 160 music industry figures signing a letter to The Times furious with the government for having...

Westway Trust racism: Kensingtion and Chelsea Council leader says time to reflect

The leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council Cllr Elizabeth Campbell has admitted that the body may have played a part in enabling the institutional racism revealed at the Westway Trust by the recent Tutu...

Historian Lucy Worsley takes a peek into the home life of Jane Austen

Curtain Up - our season of online celebrity talks - is back this weekend with another chance to see historian Lucy Worsley’s and this time she is presenting an illustrated talk of her book ‘Jane Austen at Home’Lucy paints a...

Joan Bakewell: preparing for the final chapter

Veteran broadcaster, author and journalist Joan Bakewell knows how the media works. It’s hardly surprising. At the age of 87 she has been a mover and shaker since the 1960s. She’s an outspoken campaigner for the rights of the...

Centenary of the ultimate magic trick - sawing a woman in half

I really enjoyed that curious showbusiness celebration last week where a variety of stage magicians marked the centenary of one of the most iconic magic tricks ever sawing a woman in half.For it was exactly 100 years ago,...

Desmond Tutu among religious leaders condemning gay conversion therapy

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is among hundreds of religious leaders from all over the world who are campaigning to ban the horrendous practice of gay conversion therapy. The Nobel prize winning Archbishop is among 370...

Lucy Worsley explores her Queen Victoria biography online

Our highly successful series of online talks - Curtain Up - continues at the weekend with historian Lucy Worsley taking a revealing look at the world of Queen Victoria.Like most people you probably have a fairly good idea...

How Rev. Richard Coles inspired a Bridget Jones character

There was some intriguing TV programming over the Christmas and New Year period with a noticeable emphasis on nostalgia. This should have come as no surprise. Looking back to more stable and entertaining times is completely...

Farewell to Albert Roux the chef who inspired Britain's taste for fine dining

We said a sad farewell to legendary Michelin starred chef Albert Roux who died last week leaving an extraordinary legacy. He was not only co-founder, with his late brother Michel, of the famous cooking dynasty behind...

Bishop Rose and the power of Ubuntu

It was encouraging to see that not only was Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin one of the guest editors for the Christmas/New Year editions of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme but she chose to focus on the huge benefits of practising South...

Explore the world of Queen Victoria with Lucy Worsley

Gyles Brandreth: It's new year, what better time to keep a diary?

It’s January - a new year - and for many that is all the impetus required to start a diary. After the year we’ve just had there is a sense that we are living through an era that will leave its mark on history. It is well worth...

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