For the most part, Kate Fall regards her role as a memoirist as an extension of her job as gatekeeper: to present the polished face of the Cameron administration to the world

Smith is emerging as one of the great chroniclers of America's dispossessed. Blackwood starts with a family of vagrants pitching up in a small Mississippi town and ends in inevitable tragedy.

Hats off to Deutsche Grammophon. Not only is it the producer of the finest complete Beethoven set in this, his 250th anniversary year.

What is it with women and shoes?

Not all dark beers are boozy. Boxcar makes a brilliant Dark Mild (3.6%), or for a drop that's as booze-free as a pixie's giggle, try Harviestoun's Wheesht Alcohol Free Dark Ale (0.0%)

It's never been easier to find a feminist role model. Publishing is awash with gutsy heroines thanks to series such as Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls , which celebrates extraordinary women.

'People are scared,' says Brendan O'Carroll, trying to explain why so many love his comedy Mrs Brown's Boys despite the critics, frankly, loathing it

It wasn't so long ago that we all just paid £154.50 each year for a television licence. Now more than 14 million of us fork out monthly subscriptions for at least one other TV service

Anton Du Beke, 53, is happily married to businesswoman Hannah Summers and they have two-year-old twins, George and Henrietta. He is so happy, he says, that he is often moved to tears

Brian De Palma was so horrified at the tidal wave of sexual assault allegations that engulfed Harvey Weinstein that he plans on shooting a film on the subject

As Miriam Margolyes said at the outset of Miriam's Big Fat Adventure : 'I'm happy with who I am. I'm happy with my face. I'm happy with my life. I'm disgusted with my body. I loathe it

For the first time in over 400 years, the Renaissance master's Poesie will be on show together as the centrepiece of the National Gallery's new exhibition.

We live in seismic times for the women's movement.

Comedian Perkins rustles up a celebrity guest and indulges in 'good old-fashioned conversation' for an hour or so. Her interviewees range from podcast king Adam Buxton to economist Tim Harford.

Not content with writing terrestrial TV's big show of the week with Belgravia, Julian Fellowes is also behind this six-part drama series charting the origins of football.

James Blunt messaged me. He owns a pub in Chelsea and wasn't sure if he should close it after the Prime Minister said he was 'suggesting', not ordering, people to avoid pubs

At 75, Angela Rippon is in remarkable shape: slim, quick, light on her feet. She maintains her fitness by playing tennis with singer Elaine Paige, doing Pilates and taking ballet classes

'Is it true that you guys never take off your helmets?' a prisoner asks his captor, the eponymous Mandalorian in the first episode of this eight-episode Star Wars spin-off.

Every week on this big-hearted podcast, singer Jessie Ware and her mum Lennie invite a celebrity guest to Ware's home in east London to chew the fat and tuck into a three-course meal.

Mother's Day is here and what better way to show her you care than with a bottle of something fabulous? Kick off the celebrations by bagging her a bubbly so brilliant she'll order a dozen

Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins star as hitmen in their first ever scripted comedy. Weds, Sky One, 10pm

Think you know all about the Beatles? Wait till you read this mesmerising biography of Britain's greatest band - by Britain's greatest critic...

Today the Hairy Bikers are both fully signed up to healthy eating. Myers has oat milk on his morning muesli and King made a non-dairy rum sauce for his Christmas Dinner

John Carey is a welcoming host, full of enthusiasm, and the opposite of crusty. He can throw sparkling light on a poet's method in a handful of words

This week not one but two new series from Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, and you do wonder if he can be stopped

Just when you thought life couldn't get any worse, along comes the new Ken Loach movie. Sorry We Missed You (15, ★★★) tells of Ricky (Kris Hitchen), a labourer with plans to set up on his own.

Igor Stravinsky, not a great one for dishing out prizes to his colleagues, declared that Poulenc had the greatest melodic gift of any 20th-century composer.

Janet Ellis did what many people dream of doing: while on holiday she stopped to have a 'what if' browse in an estate agent's window and came home having bought a cottage

This radiant, immersive novel is anchored in its author's fascination with Hamlet . It begins one summer's day in 1596, when 11-year-old Judith comes down with a fever in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Having owned every issue of Vogue published since September 1977, as well as having devoured numerous books on the subject, I had thought I was an expert.

For a music lover, there's nothing better than putting on a debut album by an unknown and realising that you've found a new favourite.

Covid-19 may have come from China but its spread has been horrifyingly global.

British Summer Time kicks off today and there are plenty of wines to cool and crack. Even better, I've found bunches of them that are ludicrously good value

To a teenage girl from England, in mourning for her dead mother, the Greek island of Hydra seems like an earthly paradise.

'I've no idea what I am,' Adrian Edmondson says. 'I'm not saying that for effect. All I do know is that if people hope I'll be funny away from the screen they are usually disappointed.'

Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick has seen a lot of people weep for the creatures they love. 'Prince or pauper, it's a universal truth that they are always naked in front of their dog or their cat.'

The one show we all really need right now, at this most difficult time, has to be one of my personal favourites, The Repair Shop

The first child born in an NHS hospital arrived a minute after midnight on July 5, 1948. She was named Aneira after Aneurin Bevan, the architect of the health service.

It's set in Sweden and is based on books by a Swedish author, but can this version of Wallander really be described as Scandi-noir?

At 60, Eve Laing is a famous artist in crisis. She's working on what she believes is a masterpiece, but her marriage has ended in divorce.

Magpie Lane is where an Oxford college master lives in a grand house with his pregnant second wife, his disturbed daughter from his first marriage and a nanny, who is rather more than she seems.

Georges Bizet was 17, and a student working on a piano reduction of Charles Gounod's symphonies, when he wrote his own solitary Symphony.

Even in isolation, Gary Lineker is looking for the positives. Is it his job to help keep our spirits up? 'I am not sure it is part of my job, but I feel it is something I would love to be able to do,' he says

I was all set to move to Loch Long, where The Nest is filmed, but unless I could live in Cape Cove, home to Dan (Martin Compston) and Emily (Sophie Rundle), I'll stay put

Bob Geldof said he would never be interviewed by me because, as he put it in his typical fruity language: 'You're too f****** good a journalist and will get me to say stuff I don't want to say!'

As if to demonstrate that pop is a game of fine margins, New Rules , Dua Lipa's excellent three-point manifesto for heartbroken girls, was the sixth single to be pulled from her debut album.

Why are conspiracy theories so hard to suppress? What is the meaning of nothing? These are some of the questions raised in brainy podcast The Anthill.

Broadcast across four nights a few weeks ago, this domestic drama can now be binge-watched in its entirety. An all-star cast bring to life an intriguing story involving love and jealousy.

With 12 children, the Galvin family of Colorado were always going to be notable.

Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert discusses losing the love of her life and rediscovering joy through writing her new book City Of Girls