Lord Fellowes of West Stafford, the creator of Downton Abbey, was cruelly mocked this week for being the biggest snob in England. He is furious that his wife can't inherit an earldom... more
In the olden days, before VCRs, there were some people who didn't like to go away because they'd miss their favourite TV programmes. I've always been, pathetically, a bit like this about books... more
The punishing overacting of Sylvester McCoy, the seventh Doctor Who, is only one of many problems in this woeful adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s first novel Decline and Fall
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The star of ITV’s new hit drama Downton Abbey isn’t Maggie Smith, or Hugh Bonneville, or even Julian Fellowes’s deft script. It’s the house itself... more
Typical, isn’t it? You come back from your summer break to find the temp has adjusted your chair, changed your screensaver to a yellow bird and left a passive-aggressive note on your desk... more
At 26, Simon Rich has already sold three film scripts to Hollywood, is a writer for Saturday Night Live and has just published his first novel. It’s an old-fashioned comic tale, he tells Tom Teodorczuk
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Welcome back to the 1980s. Ashes to Ashes, Martin Amis's Money hitting our TVs, a Fulham Road nightclub called Maggie's - a good omen for the Tories?... more
Candida Lycett Green has spent a lifetime seeking out hidden wonders all over England. Here she reveals three of the most magical and surprising oases in the capital... more
Evelyn Waugh fell in love with three fellow male students at Oxford and had "fully fledged" homosexual affairs with them, according to a new biography of the novelist... more
There have been plenty of arts events this week, as every week. The Orange Prize for Women's Fiction unleashed its shortlist. Harrison Birtwistle's opera about the poor old Minotaur was premiered. A bit of an exhibition about James Bond opened. The RSC put on the History Plays at the Roundhouse... more
Kate Moss has decreed that pubs beat parties, clubs or bars. Luckily, London has a fantastic array of watering holes. Here we select the best places to huddle this Christmas.... more