Eurofile

Between them, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe provided one of sport’s greatest ever rivalries. But, as JASON SOLOMONS reports, a new film centred around their most famous clash is really all about unravelling the Swedish enigma Tennis was never the same after the fourth set of the 1980 Wimbledon final. Upstart, foul-mouthed American John McEnroe […]

Britain’s entry into Europe was a long, painful process – with clear lessons for our even more painful departure, says EDWARD BICKHAM, curator of a new exhibition on this pivotal period in British history During the late 1940s, Winston Churchill had been the darling of many European political salons as a result of making trenchant […]

David Bowie’s death led to an explosion of activity around the star’s life and music. Lifelong fan DYLAN JONES explains why he chose to write one more Bowie book If you had ever doubted that David Bowie would have an afterlife, all you really need to do is go onto Instagram. Here, in the virtual […]

All libraries – from the largest to the smallest – are repositories of magic and dreams, linked by the opportunities they represent, says CHARLIE CONNELLY. And we must cherish them Twenty-five years ago this week the Bosnian cellist Vedran Smajlovic sat among the burnt-out ruins of the National Library of Bosnia and began to play. […]

This is a sumptuous revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s 1971 homage to departed American musical theatre, says Martin McQuillan After the success of La La Land a canny producer at the National has decided to bring back the original musical of unhappy endings to create a theatrical blockbuster, a glorious hit that can […]

We have a number of set phrases in English which we use in a rather automatic and semi-obligatory way at particular times and in specific social situations – such as ‘good morning’ and ‘good evening’, ‘happy birthday’ and ‘happy new year’. There are rules about how to use these formulae. We can say ‘good afternoon’ […]

In 1972 Ziggy played guitar, Marc Bolan hit his stride and blokes across Britain made nervous moves towards their sister’s make-up bag. Here SOPHIA DEBOICK rediscovers glam Britannia David Gilmour of Pink Floyd performs on stage, London, 1972. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images) – Credit: Getty Images The events of the year were notoriously dreadful. […]

The lights are going out in comments sections all over the world. Over the past few years publishers as diverse as NPR, VICE, The Week and Popular Science have been united by the decision to shut their commenting capabilities, denying their audience the opportunity to comment under their articles. For an industry that’s putting all […]

In his latest exploration of the wonders of European languages, former QI writer Adam Jacot de Boinod unearths some surprising terms for food and dining. Dokhlaya sobaka, (Russian) a low- quality frankfurter (literally, a dead dog). Hasenbrot, (German) a sandwich that has been taken to work or school and is now rather stale (literally, a […]

Thousands of anti-Donald Trump posters inspired by Second World War public information designs have been plastered across Washington DC. One of the images features Trump in boxer shorts branded with swastikas – a version of a poster of Adolf Hitler with his pants down. The original bore the message Let’s catch him with his ‘panzers’ […]

‘Trees are sanctuaries,’ wrote the German author and poet Hermann Hesse. ‘Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth.’ Hesse’s words are prime example of how Europe has always attached a vivid mystique to its trees. Myths and legends across the continent are based in […]

Many of the materials we use derive their names from the towns they were first made in. PETER TRUDGILL explores the stories behind some of the best-known The sad city of Mosul, or what is left of it, has been very much in the news. Thousands of its inhabitants have been killed, wounded, or displaced; […]

His stricken condition fuels macabre speculation, but Michael Schumacher's real legacy is the remarkable run of Grand Prix dominance which began in 1992. ROB BURNETT reports

Amid the undoubted glamour of the Venice Film Festival, a jaded JASON SOLOMONS wonders whether a complacent movie industry might dwindle into irrelevance – until he sees a new production which restores his faith in film Cinema needs its stars. It’s what the big screen has stood for since the silent era, after all, and […]

He was the American artist who came to embody Paris’ ‘crazy years’. CHRIS SULLIVAN examines a creative force whose work continues to inspire Man Ray is a giant in the art world. His work, The Gift – a simple wrought iron clothes ‘iron’ with nails attached to its surface – hit Dada firmly on its […]

For three decades of the last century, Jacques Cousteau was without doubt one of the best-known Frenchmen in the world. Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the pioneering diver, film-maker and adventurer captured the imagination of millions, sailing around the world on his self-constructed ship, Calypso, bringing images of the undersea world that had never […]

Parisians might like to claim a link for their city back to ancient Greece. In fact the stronger connection is a Yorkshire one The capital of France has many names. In the Gaelic of Ireland it is known as Páras; the Finnish name is Pariisi; it is called Parijs in Dutch; and in Lithuanian it […]

The epitaph for the Battle of Passchendaele – as with so much of our understanding of the First World War – came from a British war poet. But what of their German counterparts? We explore the poetry that emerged from the other side of no-man’s land ‘I died in hell,/ (They called it Passchendaele),’ wrote […]

Is Europe’s biggest ever movie Europe’s biggest ever flop? Cult director Luc Besson talks about his new sci-fi epic Valerian ‘The film is made, it’s my baby … don’t touch my baby, or I’ll kill you’ Is Europe’s biggest ever movie Europe’s biggest ever flop? JASON SOLOMONS talks to cult director Luc Beeson about his […]

The mid-90s saw the triumph of two very different double acts – Robson and Jerome and the Gallagher brothers. Jerome Flynn and Robson Green – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images Robson and Jerome – the stars of ITV’s military drama Soldier Soldier – double A-side Unchained Melody/(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover was […]

The new film Dunkirk is one of the greatest depictions of war on screen. But despite its anti-war message it also comes with some pretty heavy baggage Fionn Whitehead in Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan, 2017 – Credit: Cover Images Shell-shocked. That’s how they describe Cillian Murphy’s shivering soldier, rescued from a sinking hull by Mark Rylance’s […]

Not quite ready to laugh about Brexit? This 1960s comic classic brilliantly captures a sense of the undeniable farce the referendum vote has triggered A post shared by Vinylcollection (@vinylhoard) on Mar 5, 2017 at 4:17am PST The comic novel is one of the hardest things in literature to get right. Indeed, when you consider […]

In Romanian Moldavia,the Csángós are oppressed by their Romanian neighbours and misunderstood by their Hungarian ‘relatives’. Photo: Contributed – Credit: Archant Hungarian is a language which is generally considered to have no close linguistic relatives, in any sense of the word ‘close’. Its nearest linguistic relations seem to be the Mansi and Khanty languages, which […]

We explore the wonders of European languages with some of the continent’s quirkiest sayings 1. leben wie die Maden im Speck (German) to live like a maggot in bacon (ie, live the life of Riley) 2. van een kale kip kan je geen veren plukken (Dutch) you can’t pluck feathers from a bald hen (you […]

A victim of bad timing and Nazi disapproval meant the curiously-titled Schlump vanished into obscurity. But it has been recently re-evaluated and its anonymous author unmasked. Hans Herbert Grimm – Credit: Archant Alone In Berlin opened in British cinemas last week starring Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson as the working class couple Otto and Anna […]

When American rock met European art – a bizarre chapter in rock history to which countless other acts, from David Bowie onwards, owe a debt of gratitude. Salvador Dali, Spanish surrealist painter – Credit: PA Archive/PA Images As a solo act Alice Cooper is known as a golf-playing born-again Christian, a preacher’s son who played […]

Why do officials opt for formal phrases when other more instinctive, natural-sounding alternatives are available? On flights coming into London, airline passengers often hear messages from the cabin crew along the lines of ‘we are about to commence our descent into Heathrow airport’. Anybody who knows anything about English will recognise that this isn’t anything […]

Two centuries apart, Handel and Jimi Hendrix set up home in the same London property from which they proceeded to redefine music. The house in Brook Street, Mayfair both made their homes 200 years apart – Credit: Archant George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix shared two things: musical genius and a London address. The Handel […]

Mind-boggling palindromes and decidedly odd tongue twisters Tongue Twisters From the well-known line ‘around the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran’ to the awkward phrase ‘red leather, yellow leather’ one aspect of mastering a language is being able to master its tongue twisters. And they are always decidedly odd sentences: Combien de sous sont ces […]

Russian film Loveless landed with a wallop, representing the first serious contender for this year’s Palme d’Or. It’s a weighty, heavy, compellingly grim look at modern Russia and confirms its director Andrey Zvyagintsev as one of the top film makers around, even if Putin might not see it that way. Like his recent Cannes entry […]

Cannes celebrated the opening of the 70th edition of its film festival with a knotty, indulgent film about a knotted, indulgent film maker Marion Cotillard in Ismael’s Ghosts – Credit: Archant Here on the Croisette, at least, they know their audience. Ismael’s Ghosts, by Arnaud Desplechin, premiered at Cannes before wider release across France, its […]

By now, everyone has heard of Hygge, right? These 60 European words with no English equivalent will excite wordsmiths and fans of unusual phrases Poronkusema (Finnish) The distance equal to how far a reindeer can travel without a comfort break (about 5 kilometres) (literally, reindeer’s piss) Campanilismo (Italian) Local pride, attachment to the vicinity (literally, […]