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?

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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

Now aged 93 ('well past my sell-by date'), Jan Morris has taken to keeping a diary, or something like a diary, but more public, as it is clearly written for publication

Each week, peppy comedians Stevie Martin and Tessa Coates offer advice about how to thrive as a millennial adult.

Jamie Oliver's Keep Cooking And Carry On is a concept that was turned around in record time, specifically for the Covid-19 era, but even so, we're all watching in a new way. Aren't we?

Connoisseurs of short stories that pack an emotional punch will find plenty to admire in this fine new collection. The leitmotif is desperation but Kennedy is mistress of many moods.

'How bad is it?' I whispered to Susanna Reid. 'It's not great,' she giggled. 'There are some… blending issues.'

Anne Tyler's prose style is clear and unshowy. Her sentences have no flourishes. You could almost say that their only identifying feature is their lack of an identifying feature

As a young student with journalistic ambitions, the broadcaster and former Radio 4 Today programme presenter James Naughtie spent the summer of 1970 in America.

Rosé days are just around the corner.

The classic reds to pair with lamb are Rioja, southern French reds, Chianti or Bordeaux. With Easter next weekend and roast lamb set to sizzle, rummage beyond the usual suspects.

Sometimes hype is just that; hype. But occasionally it's true.

Honor Blackman, my favourite Bond girl as sassy Pussy Galore, died, aged 94, at her home in Lewes, East Sussex, three miles from my village of Newick

For better or worse, the pandemic has sent many of us back to our family units, and this podcast could be a lifeline to those looking to detoxify dynamics at home.

The title piece in King's latest collection of supernatural tales serves up a vivid metaphor for the media's unhealthy relationship with violent crime.

With this, her first novel, Naoise Dolan proves she is a wonderfully sharp, comic writer, adept at making wisecracks in the caustic, knock-'em-off, knock-'em-down tradition of Dorothy Parker

Like the Führer he served with unblinking loyalty, Otto Wächter was an Austrian.