The Fat Duck's No 2? He's a real No 1 now
Trivet, a small, resolutely modern restaurant in the shadow of the Shard is as low-key as it is understated. It’s one of those places where quality shines at every level
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Tom Parker Bowles picks Britain’s 50 most romantic restaurants
Ah, Valentine’s Day, scourge of chefs the world over. Those once-vibrant rooms, now packed with despondent tables for two. The heavily marked-up ‘romantic’ menus, the soppy specials with a side order of schmaltz. And all those flaccid, overpriced roses. It’s enough to send Venus running for cover. But worry not. The following restaurants are chosen … Read more
Harry Redknapp’s TV show lifts lid on posh Dorset enclave Sandbanks
Laughing all the way to the Sandbanks! Harry Redknapp’s TV show lifts the lid on the exclusive enclave where homes are higher priced than Monte Carlo By Graham Norwood For The Daily Mail Published: 08:18 GMT, 21 February 2020 | Updated: 08:18 GMT, 21 February 2020 Sandbanks in Dorset is Britain’s most expensive location to … Read more
I grew up living in The Handmaid’s Tale
MEMOIR MY PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY by Zeba Talkhani (Sceptre £9.99, 200pp) Zeba Talkhani’s mother was preparing for one of her many extravagant dinner parties when her daughter heard a scream. ‘Mama’ had caught her hand in the blender. Blood spattered everywhere. She was taken to bed, where her body began to convulse. Zeba … Read more
Stone me! A house with a four-billion year-old boot scraper
HISTORY THE STONEMASON by Andrew Ziminski (John Murray £20, 336pp) West Kennet Long Barrow has been standing amid the downs of North Wiltshire since around 3650 BC — a thousand years before the first Egyptian pyramid was so much as a gleam in a Pharaoh’s eye. And you can still crawl inside it. This is … Read more
Was Orwell’s 1984 his wife’s idea? That’s the suggestion in a new biography
BOOK OF THE WEEK EILEEN: THE MAKING OF GEORGE ORWELL by Sylvia Topp (Unbound £20, 560 pp) Back in 1934, a poem appeared in the Sunderland Church High School magazine, written by one of its alumnae, Eileen Maud O’Shaugnessy. Its title? End Of The Century, 1984. The poem foresaw a bleak near-future in which scholars, … Read more
Inside the luxury Canary Wharf studios that cost £2,100 a month
The newest rental properties in London’s Canary Wharf boast designer interiors and luxury communal spaces with wine bars and games areas. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the price of living in such an environment is expensive – even for the business district it is housed in. Rents begin at £2,123 a month for a … Read more
How To Argue With A Racist review: Adam Rutherford’s new book is ‘enthralling and illuminating’
Adam Rutherford’s enthralling and illuminating new book, How To Argue With A Racist, proves that ‘racial purity’ is a total myth By Francis Wheen Published: 22:02 GMT, 15 February 2020 | Updated: 21:25 GMT, 18 February 2020 How To Argue With A Racist Adam Rutherford … Read more
The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History Of James Bond
Since James Bond first burst on to our cinema screens in 1962’s Dr No, blazing his Walther PPK and seducing every beautiful woman he came across, there have been 23 more official Bond films, with six actors playing 007. Daniel Craig’s final turn as the special agent in No Time To Die, the 25th Bond … Read more
‘It was the best day of my life, then the bomb went off’
Freya Lewis was like any normal teenager when she went to see Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena in May 2017. Yet in one split second she was robbed of her best friend, her innocence and almost her life. This is her unflinching story of grief, survival and love Nell and I looked at each … Read more