Wine diary: My lunch with the Tom Selleck of the wine world November 17, 2021 Celebration was in the air at the first Winemakers Lunch in over two years. Hosted by Top Selection director Akos Forczek, it took place at the oenophile haven that is 67 Pall Mall’s private dining room. The guest of honour was Peter Mondavi Jr who, baring some resemblance to an even-more-twinkly Tom Selleck, took us [...]
Frida Kahlo painting auctioned for record £25m November 17, 2021 A painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold at Sotheby's in New York for a record $34.9m (£25m), making it the highest price paid at auction for a Latin American artwork.
Arts sector output more than halved as one in two creatives were furloughed November 17, 2021 The arts, culture and heritage sectors suffered a 60 per cent decline in output due to pandemic restrictions with a “catastrophic effect”, according to a new report. Around 55 per cent of jobs – 450,000 people – were furloughed in the sector, which was second only to hospitality and well above the national average of [...]
Celebrating the women in wine November 16, 2021 Only five per cent of the Chef de Caves in Champagne are women and Caroline Latrive of Champagne AYALA is one. Wanting to do something about this disparity, she partnered with SquareMeal to support the Female Chef Of The Year Award, a similar industry where male chefs outnumber women at a rate of over four [...]
Climate scientists reject Science Museum feature after Shell sponsorship November 16, 2021 Pollution experts refuse to let Science Museum feature work over its links to Shell and willingness to be associated with oil giants.
The Lord Napier & Star is the best – and only – pub in Hackney Wick November 16, 2021 Twenty years ago The Lord Napier – the last, boarded-up pub of E9’s scrappy backyard, wedged between the River Lee Navigation and the A12’s spaghetti junction – was bought with an eye firmly on the area’s encroaching realty rush. “S**THOUSE TO PENTHOUSE” became the most iconic bit of its fully graffitied exterior, as planning disputes [...]
Little Scratch at Hampstead Theatre: A challenging adaptation November 15, 2021 The idea of the “unadaptable” novel has been repeatedly debunked, with film and theatre directors finding ways to bring works of impossible abstraction or density to the stage or screen. Fitting neatly into the category of “possibly unadaptable” was Little Scratch, the debut novel from Rebecca Watson, a free-flowing stream of consciousness that blurs the [...]
On board the first post-Covid BA flight to the US November 15, 2021 What is the collective noun for a group of journalists? Google suggests “pack”, “herd”, “scoop”, and “crowd”. But the word that sprung to my mind while on the BA 001 flight to JFK, fourth glass of champagne in hand, was frenzy. A palpable excitement swelled inside our cabin as the Airbus A350 took to the [...]
Baglioni Hotel: A slice of Italy beside Hyde Park November 15, 2021 The world may be making a spirited attempt to put Covid behind it, but that doesn’t mean international travel is suddenly a breeze. Couple this with over-booked and over-priced UK staycation destinations such as Cornwall and York, and you have a holiday dilemma. So why not take the sting out of a weekend break by [...]
Aston Martin Valkyrie: first example of ‘era defining’ hypercar completed November 15, 2021 The first Aston Martin Valkyrie customer car is now ready for delivery. The 1,155hp hybrid is described as a ‘true F1 car for the road’.
