Culture

Penguin Random House(Credit: Penguin Random House)Winston Churchill's aristocratic daughter-in-law and confidante Pamela Harriman is considered "the greatest courtesan of her era". Decades after her death, she still divides opinion – was she a smart power player – or "shameless" and...

Emmanuel LafontDisney's stage version of their hit film is an unmatched global phenomenon. Twenty-seven years on from its premiere, its director discusses why it was a big risk that paid off 10 billion-fold.The Lion King musical is a beast of...

Getty Images(Credit: Getty Images)The late muse of director John Waters, Divine delighted in inspiring outrage and disgust on and off screen. However from The Little Mermaid to Chappell Roan, he has left a big impression on popular cultureDivine was a...

Getty ImagesThe cult classic's guerilla techniques and daring subject matter helped to kickstart a new era. Just before its release in 1969, the BBC interviewed its director, Dennis Hopper, discovering an actor as idiosyncratic as his film.On 17 October 1969,...

Bloomsbury Press, University of California Press, W W Norton & Company(Credit: Bloomsbury Press, University of California Press, W W Norton & Company)From the pursuit of happiness to the economy – in the run-up to the election, here are some books...

Apple TVApple TV+'s latest starry drama sees the Oscar-winner play a famous journalist terrorised by a vindictive man via a self-published novel. It's intelligent and beautifully shot.In Alfonso Cuarón's most dazzling films, including Children of Men, he trusts his audience...

Alamy(Credit: Alamy)As a new hip-hop musical adaptation of the cult French classic opens in Paris, the film's director Mathieu Kassovitz talks about the issues that inspired him – and sadly remain.Barely a week after Mathieu Kassovitz had announced on social...

Serenity Strull/ BBC/ Bella Freud/ Getty Images(Credit: Serenity Strull/ BBC/ Bella Freud/ Getty Images)With her intimate new podcast, Fashion Neurosis, British designer Bella Freud is exploring what we wear and why. She talks style, 'emotional health' – and her famous...

Apple TVPremiering at the London Film Festival, Steve McQueen's sprawling drama tries to shine new light on what happened, but has "many of the clichés of a traditional period piece".As the director of the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, Steve...

Hulu/Disney+(Credit: Hulu/Disney+)The TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster is full of "terrible people" and "inappropriate jokes" – it's also brilliant fun.If you're not yet familiar with the fictional worlds of British author Dame Jilly Cooper, then the opening sequence of...