Eurofile

PETER TRUDGILL on the sometimes confusing way in which surnames seem to indicate nationality People with the surname Inglis are usually Scottish. That might seem rather strange, because the name is the Scots-language word for ‘English’ – and why would Scottish people have been called Inglis? But actually of course there would be no point […]

The Icelandic capital has had a cultural impact out of all proportion with its size, says SOPHIA DEBOICK. Iceland’s iconic natural features belie the new dance craze taking the capital by storm. PHOTO: C Hutchinson – Credit: Archant Rarely has the world needed a silly dance craze more, and Iceland – a place of deep […]

JASON SOLOMONS talks to the director of Radioactive, a powerful film not only about the pioneering scientist but her research that changed the world Marie Sklodowka Curie (1867 – 1934) in her laboratory. She shared a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre for their work in radioactivity. In 1911 she became […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK reports on the troubled yet creative Mexican city. Tijuana is a city in crisis. Home to one of the world’s busiest border crossings, it has become a flashpoint in Trump’s border wall war. Its international bridge is a principal point of entry to the US and in this city Mexicans running from the […]

TIM WALKER reviews The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre in London. I apologise for the late arrival of my review of The Prince of Egypt, but, then again, the show itself took its time on opening night. After about half an hour, Scott Schwartz, the director, walked out on to the empty stage […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY explores the outbreak of the Spanish Flu and its reminder of mankind’s vulnerability. Red Cross volunteers fighting the Spanish flu epidemic in the United States, 1918. Photo: Apic/Getty Images. – Credit: Archant At 1600 Clifton Road in Atlanta, Georgia, lives a centenarian. To visit, however, one must don full protective clothing and breathing […]

Charlie Connelly explores the life of Jean-Pierre Blanchard – the balloonist with an inflated sense of his own importance. The morning of January 7, 1785, dawned bright and clear and the coast of France was clearly visible across the Channel from the castle overlooking Dover. The Channel had always made England a fortress. Twenty one […]

The Polish capital is freighted with a traumatic past but musically that has never held it back, says Sophia Deboick In the last century, Warsaw became a byword of bleakness and destruction. A city completely levelled by the Nazis after the failed Warsaw Uprising of the summer of 1944, in its communist era it was […]

TIM WALKER reviews at Pass Over at the Kiln Theatre in London. Theatre directors talk sometimes about doing “word plays”, which I’ve always taken to be a slightly withering way of saying they’re getting together some actors to spout a lot of text. The old rule is “show, don’t tell”, but how else can a […]

PETER TRUDGILL assesses just how (il)logical certain languages are. Over the years there have been plenty of people who have not hesitated to assert that French is a “very logical language”, the implication being that other languages are less so. But it is actually rather easy to point to aspects of French which do not […]

The complex history of the eastern Mediterranean means there are individuals who have defied their ‘national identities’. PETER TRUDGILL reports. Many people in southeastern Europe would agree that it is correct to say that Turks are a Muslim people who speak Turkish and that Greeks are a Christian people who speak Greek. That is certainly […]

TIM WALKER reviews The Upstart Crow at Gielgud Theatre, London. There’s a kind of comedy – and writer of comedies – that makes you think how funny a line is, but, for one reason or another, you don’t laugh. The Upstart Crow is such a comedy and Ben Elton is such a writer. I don’t […]

SOPHIA DEBOICK on a genre which tells the story of a city – and a nation – through the good times and the bad. “Without the streets or dusks of Buenos Aires, a tango cannot be written.” This was how Jorge Luis Borges, Buenos Aries’ – and Argentina’s – most famous poet summed up the […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the surprisingly wide array of surnames derived from colours. Football fans will know that Kevin De Bruyne is the brilliant midfielder who plays for Manchester City as well as for the Belgian national team. They may not all be quite so familiar with other foreign soccer stars such as the Spanish international […]

A play which is all about saluting strong women was recreated at Young Vic Theatre in London. 7. Zephryn Taitte in Nora A Doll’s House (c) Marc Brenner – Credit: Archant When Henrik Ibsen wrote A Doll’s House in 1879, he recognised the fight for gender equality was never going to be a quick and […]

CLAUDIA PRITCHARD on a stunning new show of paintings from a moment in history when the country and its rulers were at their most self-aggrandising. peter lely self portrait – Credit: Archant Upon the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and faced with the task of restating its majesty, Charles II appointed a spin doctor. […]

PETER TRUDGILL on the correct use of ‘best’ – a grammar ‘rule’ it is safe to ignore. After a football match it is often said by those talking about the event that “the best team won” – or in the case of a losing team managed by Jose Mourinho, that the best team did not […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on Snow, Dog, Foot, a moving novel about living life alone in a complex existence high up in the Alps. Sometimes the life of a hermit can be a very appealing prospect. Not being answerable to anyone, living entirely self-sufficiently and feeling completely separated from the comings, goings and machinations of the rest […]

TIM WALKER reviews Endgame/Rough for Theatre II at The Old Vic Theatre, London. Endgame/Rough for Theatre II. Photo: contributed – Credit: Archant Stephen Unwin, in his excellent book So You Want To Be A Theatre Director?, came as close as anyone to defining what it is to give an effective performance on stage. “The good […]

Once a byword for glamour and exuberance, the Chinese city was effectively silenced for much of the 20th century. But now it is becoming a centre for music publishing and distribution, says Sophia Deboick. The financial district of Pudong in Shanghai. Photo: Getty Images – Credit: AFP via Getty Images Few places have been subject […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY runs his eye over the ever-growing range of literary podcasts Back in the olden days of broadcasting you’d struggle to find much in the way of literary discussion or representation coming through the ether. On television you’d get the odd parasol-twirling adaptation of a Regency novel, jowly men in heavy tweed jackets sitting […]

The French town may not have produced much of its own musical heritage, yet it boasts one of the greatest venues in the world. SOPHIA DEBOICK reports. The atmosphere of a venue can make the difference between a so-so musical experience and one that speaks to the soul. There are no more affecting venues than […]

TIM WALKER reflects on the National Theatre’s sprawling, challenging, and at times scintillating, new play. A play begins life with a reading, and, certainly so far as commercial theatre is concerned, this can be a brutal experience. Actors give their time for nominal fees on the basis that it may or may not ever get […]

JASON SOLOMONS talks to the director of a new film about a little-known journalist who rooted out one of the 20th century’s biggest scandals For all the many film adaptations that his books have inspired, depictions of George Orwell himself on screen remain rare. He features in new release Mr Jones, however, played by English […]

While the space race captivated the world, efforts to explore the depths of the world's oceans were rather more low key, but no less fascinating. JON COPLEY reports.

SOHPIA DEBOICK on how the Yorkshire city, unbound by fashion, political orthodoxy or gender division, spawned a look and sound that lasted. Leeds loomed largest in rock mythology when the Who’s landmark Live at Leeds (1970) was recorded at the unlikely venue of the university’s parquet-floored refectory. The record was seen as marking a return […]

A talented group of actors do their best in the most hideous of circumstances. Southwark Playhouse, London, until February 22 Sir Christopher Lee once told me that all actors get to appear in terrible productions every now and again, but the trick is never to be terrible in them. The late actor’s sage words occurred […]

The meaning of the word have has changed over the centuries to denote more dynamic activities, says PETER TRUDGILL At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, passengers are often urged – in announcements made by Dutch people speaking English – to keep their boarding-passes ready. At British airports, passengers are generally asked to have their boarding-passes ready. American […]

The great city is known for melding different cultural influences, says SOPHIA DEBOICK, but that does not mean it lacks a voice of its own. Mumbai is the entertainment capital of India, the home of a film industry that has become one of the country’s cultural touchstones. Yet Bollywood, like the city itself, is the […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY remembers the life of the first director to receive an Academy Award outside of Hollywood, who shaped views of Britain. Think of Henry VIII and the chances are you’ll think of a larger-than-life cross between Falstaff and the Goodyear blimp sitting at a banqueting table, tearing at a chicken leg with his teeth […]

A new film, to be broadcast on Holocaust Memorial Day, tells the little-known story of a group of children taken from the death camps to the Lake District. JASON SOLOMONS talks to the team behind this moving story. A scene from the production. Photo: Helen Sloan / BBC – Credit: Archant In August 1945, Britain […]

RAGS the musical had a great deal of potential, but the latest performance was an open-heart surgery gone wrong, writes TIM WALKER. Often considered to be one of the worst songs of all time, MacArthur Park has a special place in my heart. Jimmy Webb wrote a big, bold and beautiful score, but also the […]