Journalism
The man who saved a million lives
It is hard to say precisely how many lives Sir Richard Doll has saved in his career, but a million may be considered a conservative estimate. The true figure probably lies in the steel filing cabinets …
read moreGland on the Run
There are several ways a middle-aged man may find he has a problem with his prostate gland – difficulty in peeing, getting up a lot in the night – but the way Tony Elliott found out was rather …
read moreRichard Griffiths
‘I hate being the subject of photographs,’ Richard Griffiths says not long after being photographed. I had heard that he especially didn’t like being pictured from the neck down for fear it might …
read moreCoffee and its scientists
I began writing this article after five cups of good coffee, and it turned out to be one of the best articles I had ever written. It had fluency and style, and a narrative drive that gripped the reader …
read moreMadonna
In fact, there is recording equipment everywhere. Madonna is sitting on a stool in her producer’s tiny home studio in West Kilburn, London, her feet resting by cables, her hands within reach of …
read moreRoseanne Cash
Precisely four-and-a-half hours after a film about her father, mother and stepmother was nominated for five Oscars, Rosanne Cash walks into the Nicole Farhi store near her home in …
read moreGamblers Anonymous
They do not look like a family who were once in turmoil. Frank is 91, gentle, elegantly dressed, balding, charming, a former GP. Sara, his wife, is a few years younger and has devoted her life to …
read moreHis Feminine Side
I really like it here,’ Philip Seymour Hoffman says as he takes his seat on a sofa in a suite at the Dorchester. ‘The place has some character. It’s not just hotelness all over the place.’ It is shortly …
read moreNational Treasure, Stately Homo
Sir Ian McKellen arrives at the Covent Garden Hotel looking very professorial with lots of papers under one arm and a harried air. It is mid-afternoon, and he wants some food – a bit of soup and …
read moreJohn Terry
His manager calls him the best central defender in the world, and unlike many things his manager says this is not a minority view. John Terry is 25, and he has grown up fast. Ten years ago he was …
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