Katy Birchall takes a look at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s College, Cambridge, and picks out some more of the best Christmas choir services across the…
Theatre, film & music
Curious Questions: Why is the pantomime dame always played by a man?
Every year, millions of people across Britain will chuckle their way through a pantomime featuring a man playing the main female role, and usually a girl playing the lead male…
In Focus: The trench cello which brought the joy of music to the First World War
The men who spent years in the trenches of France and Belgium found all manner of ways to bring a touch of joy and culture into their lives – not least…
Curious Questions: Why is the Green Room called the Green Room?
Whether you're performing a play or about to go on television, the waiting room is called the Green Room – but why is that? Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions',…
The luthier: “You don’t know if you’ve been successful until you put the strings on. That’s the moment when it comes alive.”
Tom Sands brought the lessons he learnt from the California king of guitar-making back to Britain, where he makes stunning, personalised instruments for his clients. Tessa Waugh reports, photographs by…
Amazing grace: St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake at the London Coliseum
Annunciata Elwes is captivated by this quintessential production of a classic Russian ballet.
The Oxford of Inspector Morse: Dreaming spires, dead bodies… and lots and lots of pubs
The Oxford of Inspector Morse: Dreaming spires, dead bodies... and lots and lots of pubs.
In Focus: The hand-drawn maps from which JRR Tolkien launched Middle-earth
'I wisely started with a map and made the story fit,' JRR Tolkien once wrote. A new exhibition in Oxford – the writer's home for so many years – shows just…
Inside Haworth: The humble parsonage where the Brontë sisters changed literature
Some of our most enduring stories were conceived at Haworth – Jeremy Musson enjoys a literary pilgrimage.
The Scyther: ‘We were up in arms about Poldark – his swing was all wrong’
Scything was almost forgotten until Aidan Turner’s turn in Poldark, but Nigel Adams says there’s still a place for it. He spoke to Tessa Waugh; portraits by Richard Cannon.…
Kiss me, Kate at the London Coliseum: Not ‘better’ than Shakespeare – but certainly more enjoyable to watch
Opera North’s award-winning production of Cole Porter’s 1949 Broadway comedy classic, Kiss me, Kate, has been something of a sensation. And rightly so: this is a brilliant clever and seamless staging…
Life after Downton Abbey: How Highclere Castle is moving on
Highclere Castle was made famous across the world as Downton Abbey – and the money that it generated saved this beautiful country home for future generations. But they're still moving onwards…
Curious Questions: Why do actors say ‘break a leg’?
The best-known phrase for wishing an actor luck is also the most baffling. Martin Fone, author of 'Fifty Curious Questions', investigates.
Learning the ropes: The new breed of church bell ringers
Far from being the preserve of older devotees, church bell-ringing is increasingly popular with youngsters. Vicky Liddell meets the teenagers for whom the bell tolls.
Nursery rhymes: How murder, theft and fake news found their way into the tales we tell our children
Murder, animal cruelty and dishonesty aren’t generally considered child-friendly topics, yet they’re the basis of many much-loved nursery rhymes. Flora Watkins explains.
Jason Goodwin: The upside of life in a harem, and modern-day slavery on the King’s Road
Our columnist Jason Goodwin considers the realities of everyday existence for the women kept in 18th century Ottoman harems.
Burns Night: What it is, where to go, what to do if you want to play host
Burns Night has been celebrated for well over 200 years – here's everything you need to know about celebrating Scotland's national poet.
15 fascinating things about animal actors, from dogs and cockroaches to the penguin who was fired out of a cannon
Animal ‘actors’ are often remembered long after their human co-stars. Flora Watkins meets people who’ve worked with ravens, stags, dogs, horses–and cockroaches.
The Billies: Country Life’s 2017 theatre awards, from best play to Ayckbourn’s ‘crushing disappointment’
After watching new productions at a rate of about four a week, our theatre critic Michael Billington presents the brilliantly good, the excruciatingly bad and the movingly sad of this…
The tale of a ‘real-life’ Billy Elliot: How cricketer Alexander Campbell swapped batting for ballet
Today, Alexander Campbell is a principal at the Royal Ballet. But for a long time it seemed that his destiny lay along a very different path. He spoke to Jeremy…