The sad but not unexpected death of Sinead O’Connor has brought a raft of poignant accolades – “Supremely gifted, terrifyingly vulnerable and hilarious – even at her bleakest she’d make you laugh.” “A heroic talent who spoke truth to power – and found redemption in art. Her music made everything worthwhile.” “A complicated, sensitive, erratic … Read more
Harry Truman is the forgotten piece of the narrative when it comes to the nuclear bomb. Oppenheimer may have created it (along with others) but Truman was the one to give the order to use it, described by one commentator as “the most history-altering executive decision since Pontius Pilate”. He took on the presidency on … Read more
Israel is galloping towards the point where it will lose the unique status of being the only democracy in the Middle East as the ultra-right wing parliament voted to strip the country’s supreme court of its powers to block government decisions. The opposition walked out, joining a huge crowd of protesters, with reservists, the Israeli … Read more
Sigourney Weaver, veteran of some of the biggest blockbuster franchises of all time – Alien, Ghostbusters and Avatar – and a statuesque 5 foot 11+ tall, is still going strong and largely flying under the radar of Hollywood hype by living quietly in New York. She’s back on TV screens next month in The Lost … Read more
Josephine Chaplin, the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, who starred in many French films has died. She was the sixth of 11 children fathered by the comic screen legend and the third of eight with O’Neill, daughter of the Nobel prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill. It is a mind-boggling prospect … Read more
Singer Tony Bennett has died. Called “the best in the business” by Frank Sinatra, he had a career spanning seven decades and was still performing in his mid nineties on stage with Lady Gaga when suffering from Alzheimers. He released 61 studio albums between his debut, Because of You, in 1952, and his second album … Read more
Carlos Arcaraz, the Spanish tennis player, who defeated Novak Djokovic to win the Men’s Final at Wimbledon, making it his second major singles win, is barely twenty years old. Born 5 May 2003 3am Murcia, Spain with a tennis academy director father, he started hitting the headlines as the youngest participant on the international … Read more
Derek Malcolm, ‘a giant among critics’ and film world darling, has died. His early life was stranger than any movie and he wandered through a chequered career before finally finding his fate as one of the world’s leading film critics aged 40. He was born 12 May 1932 in London, long after his father, … Read more
Royal favourites from ordinary backgrounds enjoy immense privilege while their patrons are alive but are ousted at speed once their rarefied position disappears. What is intriguing is that the three recent ones – Angela Kelly (Queen Elizabeth’s dresser), Billy Tallon (Queen Mother’s steward) and Michael Fawcett (senior valet to the then Prince Charles) are/were … Read more
Milan Kundera and Victoria Amelina, both distinguished East European writers with first-hand experience of Russian authoritarianism, have died within days of each other. Milan Kundera, 1 April 1929 Brno, Czechoslovakia, started out as an enthusiastic Communist party member in his youth but was latterly expelled as he spoke up in 1970 during the clampdown that … Read more