Eurofile

A person considered to be a kind of sexual demon vis-a-vis his actors male and female can also make beautiful, great films

In a Sicilian pizzeria, take care when arguing over the bill

Iain Softley’s cult 1994 directorial debut chronicles the Beatles’ wild early days in Hamburg’s red-light district

The iconic French singer has died after a long battle against cancer

My great-great-grandfather’s behaviour transcends the stuffy confines of respectable churchmen in the 1880s

Its origin is uncertain, but the term ‘muggins’ is one of the very few alternative first-person pronouns to ‘I’ and ‘me’ in the English language

Ingrid Bergman said the German possessed more charm in his little finger than most men had in their whole body

How tragedy turned photojournalist Ernst Scheidegger into a recorder of Dalí, Giacometti and more

A choice of reading for the Euros includes the man who prescribed a cure for English football’s problems, a generation early

Continental players brought skill and intelligence to an isolationist British game. Could our politicians learn from that?

Three out of the top five restaurants in the world were Spanish this year. Why?

Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s television and books

Hepburn had come to know early on that delicate thread between life and death. And that she had survived

At 75 years old, Emlyn Williams’ Accolade is all too relevant today

The story of my great-great-grandfather and a killer cat

Ligeti’s rigorous antipathy to ideology was maintained throughout his life and extended way beyond his music

Most people in Haiti speak Kreyòl, while their eastern neighbours speak Spanish

A new book tells the story of a German film-maker who tried to break with the country’s past

Brexit and streaming are killing off the tradition of British musicians touring Europe in a van. One who did it says that’s a tragedy

When the artist died in Rome in 1564, he had one more remarkable journey still to make

A restaurant in Notting Hill is turning heads thanks to its new corkage policy: want to bring your own wine into Dorian? It’ll cost you £100

Our editor-at-large’s rundown of the pick of the week’s cinema, television and books

The cinematographer not only understood what a camera is meant to do, he visually understood what cinema should do

The Bleeding Tree is startling and compelling

A sublime look at a hidden musical prodigy

Tom Holland is let down by a bizarre staging of Romeo & Juliet

A stage revival of the TV classic still packs a punch

A post office queue leads to a disarming encounter

Even the world’s most prominent linguistics experts cannot agree on when humans first acquired the capacity for language

Before Segovia, the guitar was not an instrument to be taken seriously. In a matter of minutes, everything changed

If the political food lens is switched on, the Labour leader is something of a masterchef

Great political mantras started with “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. Can we expect anything as inspiring in this election?