A network of streets between Russell Square and Holborn is attracting quirky, entrepreneurial small businesses to an unspoilt corner of London. Liz Hoggard explores this creative — not literary — hub.... more
Hero of the Sixties counter-culture Michael Horovitz tells Tim Willis why it would take uncommon sense for him to be appointed Oxford professor of Poetry on Friday.... more
There’s an over-long election limping to its conclusion this week - the Oxford Professor of Poetry - a laureateship but with no daft obligation to write about Kate Middleton or corgis... more
As Melanie in Gone With the Wind, the world fell in love with Olivia de Havilland. And Olivia's own life has been as tumultuous as her character's. Hermione Eyre meets the queen of the silver screen... more
In Waterstone’s I found 10 love poems in a pristine white envelope. Though mostly contemporary, they seem almost sweetly Victorian in the context of the modern "F**k off, he's mine" Valentine’s card... more
Unassuming isn't the first word that comes to mind when thinking of former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, but that's how he struck me the first time I set eyes on him... more
He was the poet laureate whose harsh, dark evocations of nature made him a staple of the school curriculum even as his doomed marriage to fellow writer Sylvia Plath made him a hate figure for extreme feminists... more
With its token £5,750-a-year salary and case of wine for your trouble, our Poet Laureateship has long been what the outgoing laureate Andrew Motion has affectionately termed an "honorary joke"... more
With the discovery that Nicholas Hughes hanged himself at the age of 47, a cruel and bitter legacy of depression and suicide continues to haunt one of Britain’s most famous literary families... more
Those who like to wallow in a little self-indulgent melancholy in these cold, dark,
cash-strapped days could do worse than plump for Three Women. ... more
A nation mourned after actor John Thaw passed away. Now his widow Sheila Hancock shares her wise, funny and deeply poignant account of how she rebuilt her life...... more
Word is that Sean Connery's upcoming autobiography is a heavily sanitised account of his tempestuous life. Starting today, a major Mail series reveals the real story of this brilliant but deeply flawed man.
... more
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