When Clive James wrote a few months ago of being ‘stuck with the embarrassment of still being alive’, it struck a particular chord with me – as a number of people thought it might, judging by the

Cate Blanchett is an intriguing actress – interesting-looking, androgynous, a touch of Garbo about her. She climbed higher in my estimation last week when expressing her exasperation at her peers indulging in endless selfies when attending a

If we were to think of those who voted for the 2003 Allied invasion of Iraq and did their utmost to block any investigation into the affair, certain obvious names would leap forward; it’s significant that these

It is 1972 in a sepia coloured England. Everything is black and white, or beige. In a Lancastrian mill town there is an infant school built by the Victorians; all granite and high ceilings and heavy

A long-time commentator on here pointed me in the direction of a Channel 4 programme looking back at TV from the 60s the other week; I was tempted solely by the fact that an ageing Peter Wyngarde

Back in the 1980s, I was an avid reader of the music press, and my favourite weekly was ‘Melody Maker’. Within a few months of purchasing my first issue, I became familiar with the different writers on

John Leslie, one-time ‘Blue Peter’ presenter and 1990s mainstream TV mainstay, has recently spoken of the accusation that effectively ended his high-profile, £350,000-a-year career. The story that emerged into the public domain in 2002 appeared in

Thus spoke Arwen, the “Evenstar” as she was also referred to

When Tony Benn died last year, the obituaries tended to focus on the radical old uncle of the elder statesman years rather than the belligerent troublemaker of the turbulent early 80s. Benn successfully reshaped his public perception

Excuse me while I light up. I smoke a lot of cigarettes and drink a lot of black coffee whilst writing; my teeth bear the scars, but it could be worse, I suppose. At least I’m not

Beyond the endless TV mags, titillating rags and metrosexual men’s handbooks, I spied a tiny handful of what used to be called comics on the newsstand the other day. All bar one notable exception appeared to be movie merchandise, just

Whatever part competence, judgement and vision play in a premiership, the factors of timing and luck should never be underestimated. Robert Walpole emerged from the chaos of the South Sea Bubble and sold himself as the only

I read in my Sunday broadsheets that Angela Merkel is starting to get a bit of stick in Germany. For example “Mutter Angela” is featured on the front page of Der Spiegel in full Mother Theresa