Meeting Maggie the spider
A scream emanated from the bathroom. ‘What is it?’ came the concerned reply from the bedroom. ‘Spider!’ I reported, as once again I repeated the disagreeable routine of...
Royal Teddy Bear
You can expect teddy bears to be big news this summer. Especially those made by Merrythought, Britain’s last remaining traditional teddy bear manufacturer. Because this...
Good sport
More than a third of British Olympic medal winners in 2012 came from the independent sector, with a particular dominance in rowing, where more than half of our gold...
Making a wild splash
It has been suggested that being by and in water is more than a pleasure, it is at the core of our human condition. Much of our development as a species took place in and...
Douglas as LIBERACE -...
The film is called Behind The Candelabra, and it’s about the rather colourful relationship between the musical star, Liberace, and his much younger chauffeur and lover,...
A question of charity
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) won an important battle with the Charity Commission in October 2011 at a High Court tribunal. At the heart of the matter was a...
‘The Dame Judi Dench...
Only recently, Olivia Colman confessed that she believed she didn’t always land the best parts because she wasn’t ‘the archetypal looker’. But last Sunday one of our...
Adventures in dating
When I was young I couldn’t imagine women of 60 falling in love. For one thing, people used to stay married; they weren’t out in the jungle, searching for romance. Besides,...
Hidden Hollywood
Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd fool around on a Vespa on the set of Ben-Hur. Julie Christie takes a catnap on the snowy set of Doctor Zhivago. Cary Grant entertains a...
The art of stage rage
They say all the world’s a stage, an aphorism Dame Helen Mirren took to heart when she recently exited a theatre mid-performance to silence – with a few rather colourful...
The reluctant Queen
One of the questions I am most often asked these days is why, out of all Henry VIII's wives, did I choose to write about Katherine Parr. It is true that Henry's sixth and...
It’s the other Maggie
Yes, it’s Britain’s other iconic Maggie, acting legend and double Oscar winner, Dame Maggie Smith. The striking new portrait was unveiled recently by the National Portrait...
DEAR LUMPY
My father, Roger, was born in 1909 and educated at Eton and Sandhurst before taking a commission in the Coldstream Guards. He was a captain when his platoon fought a...
Michael York
Michael York is beaming. It is sprinkling with rain when I arrive at his West Hollywood home, but a welcome fire is blazing in the hearth and Michael is dressed casually in...
WHERE ARE YOU, KITTY?
Caroline Paul was recovering from a bad accident and thought that things couldn’t get much worse. But then her beloved cat, Tibia, disappeared. She and her partner,...
Craig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood is a busy man – and that’s the way he likes it. ‘I don’t get one day off from the beginning of Strictly in September,’ he says, ‘until after the arena...
The royal matchmaker
Margaret Greville ‘rose without a trace’ to become a supreme society hostess, collecting kings and commoners, millionaires and maharajahs. Concealing her humble origins,...
All hail the REAL...
No actor who worked with the inimitable Richard Griffiths, who died last month aged 65, will have been surprised to learn that the lights of Shaftesbury Avenue in the heart...
Biggest-ever betting coup
The 1913 Epsom Derby changed history in more ways than one. It is perhaps best known for the death of the suffragette Emily Davison, a vociferous and outspoken feminist who...
'Manipulated for decades'
Nadia Sawalha is no stranger to a diet. The actress, turned TV presenter, turned Celebrity Masterchef winner spent 30 years yo-yo dieting, with a wardrobe full of clothes...
Private life of Pompeii
There’s a paradox about Pompeii and Herculaneum. We view them as dead places, yet they tell us far more about Roman life than even Rome itself. Unexceptional small towns,...
All that glisters
They are the almost unimaginable treasures of a magni ficent imperial court – and some of the most coveted and collectable objects of adornment in existence. For these...
INDEPENDENT THINKING
Our indispensable guide to private schools and what they can offer your children...READ: Building confidenceREAD: Good SportREAD: A question of charityREAD: Your...
Secrets of Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë’s first attempt at writing a novel for publication, The Professor, was rejected by Smith, Elder & Co, but the publisher sent her a letter which she...
WALKING saved my mother
To walk or not to walk... Such a question defines families. For decades, my father was the hiking type, covering India and France. I walked less boldly, as a city stroller,...
Building confidence
The notion of running a Failure Week might seem a strange one for a highachieving girls’ school. It doesn’t sound like a concept that fee-paying parents would buy into with...
Change your life
Do you remember the ‘good old days’ of writing and receiving letters? The younger version of me remembers, with unashamed nostalgia, all the fabulous things that arrived in...
Daily tip from the lady archive
"What makes leisure and holidays delightful is just the fact that they come rarely. If you can have them whenever you like they lose their nature.”
The Lady. The Joy of Work. 14th May 1914
Your vote...
Q: The Queen has received a £5m boost in the funds she receives from the taxpayer to carry out her official duties. Do you approve?
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