Charlie Connelly
13 October 2022
Sylvia Kristel: The star whose life was defined by transience
From the very beginning, Sylvia Kristel’s life thrummed with an undercurrent of impermanence
Read the full article13 October 2022
Lifting the veil on the intimacy of women
The stripped-down prose and raw honesty of Nobel prize for literature winner Annie Ernaux
Read the full article06 October 2022
Yul Brynner: The man who would forever be the King of Siam
For all the remarkable events and achievements of his life, Brynner was always content for mythologies to propagate around him
Read the full article06 October 2022
Dorthe Nors, Jutland’s bard of the bleak
Denmark’s biggest literary celebrity returns to the remote peninsula where she grew up
Read the full article29 September 2022
Marcel Duchamp: The pioneer of surrealism who swapped the studio for the chess board
He still dabbled in the art world, but the last four decades of the Frenchman’s life were focused almost entirely on the game
Read the full article29 September 2022
‘There are no endings.. they are all beginnings’
The late Hilary Mantel’s connection with Europe brought controversy – and some of her best work
Read the full article22 September 2022
Requiem for the King who ruled by fax
Technophobe and literary rover Javier Marías managed to live a life as extraordinary as his work
Read the full article22 September 2022
Irving Berlin: The composer who never took his extraordinary success for granted
Even at the age of 87, Irving was pondering if he had achieved enough during his career
Read the full article15 September 2022
Karl Popper: The Austrian-British philosopher who had no time for ignorance
Popper never accepted the idea that people did not know about the Holocaust or the gulags, rather they chose not to know. For him, knowledge was a moral obligation
Read the full article15 September 2022
Maggie O’Farrell fills the empty spaces of a lost life
Hamnet’s Maggie O’Farrell creates another major work from one of history’s minor characters
Read the full article08 September 2022
Pier Angeli: The actress as enigmatic in death as she was in life
There was far more to Anna Maria Pierangeli than what cinema-goers saw on the screen and friends saw off it
Read the full article08 September 2022
Literature’s changing climate: The responsibility of raising awareness
The ‘cli-fi’ genre looks set to play an important role in raising awareness of the environment emergency
Read the full article01 September 2022
Jean-Paul Belmondo: The unlikely face of the French new wave
He baffled and fascinated his critics, but the actor somehow became the absolute personification of insouciant cool
Read the full article01 September 2022
Venice: The city which is shaped by and shapes outsiders
Venice has produced few major writers – yet few places have inspired so many authors
Read the full article25 August 2022
Le Corbusier: The architect who revolutionised the 20th-century city
City skylines of tower blocks, motorway networks, urban plazas - everywhere you look today there are traces of the Swiss-French architect
Read the full article25 August 2022
The violence and the silence: Salman Rushdie and the bravery of writers
Authors and readers love live events. But will they survive the attack on Salman Rushdie?
Read the full article18 August 2022
Sacco and Vanzetti: The anarchist immigrants whose execution sparked global riots
Individually their fates were an immeasurable tragedy for two families, together they were a cause
Read the full article18 August 2022
Posts from Paris under the Nazis
Ten days before Hitler’s suicide, Felix Hartlaub disappeared. But his notebooks live on
Read the full article11 August 2022
Tazio Nuvolari: The racing genius who let his driving do the talking
The Italian's driving walked the line between skill and recklessness but never crossed it
Read the full article11 August 2022
Grief and ghosts haunting Britain
A stunning new novel captures the weight of history on a country rinsed with regrets
Read the full article04 August 2022
Anna Piaggi: The fashion journalist whose style trumped even the most avant-garde designers
Celebrated as one of Europe’s leading fashion writers, the Italian was better known for her sheer presence on the scene
Read the full article04 August 2022
HV Morton: Terrific writer.. terrible man
HV Morton was a pioneering travel writer of genius.. and also a philandering, racist snob
Read the full article28 July 2022
Henri Cartier-Bresson: The photographer always seeking the decisive moment
The Frenchman was no newshound but had a knack of witnessing some of the 20th century’s key episodes
Read the full article28 July 2022
Sri Lanka in purgatory
As the country faces its greatest crisis, a writer has delivered one of its greatest novels
Read the full article14 July 2022
Rutger Hauer: The European who brought pioneering nuance to Hollywood
The Dutch actor brought depth at a time when the industry expected little more from roles than grunting henchmen, murderous Nazis or ring fodder for Rocky Balboa
Read the full article14 July 2022
Novel ways to spend the summer
For many of us, holidays offer a chance to catch up on our reading and in our post-Covid, post-Brexit world, so too does tortuous travel. CHARLIE CONNELLY has you covered
Read the full article07 July 2022
The last voyage of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Two centuries since his dramatic death at sea, the legacy of Percy Bysshe Shelley lives on
Read the full article07 July 2022
Arnold Schoenberg: The father of atonal music who feared the number 13
The Austrian-American composer was convinced atonality was the future of music. Sadly, his fear of the number 13 led to his death before this day could arrive
Read the full article30 June 2022
Raffaella Carrà: The TV personality whose midriff scandalised Italy
The presenter managed to stay at the top for six decades, winning hearts whether baring her monochrome midriff to a startled nation or holding that same nation’s politicians to account in full colour
Read the full article30 June 2022
Trespassing in the deadliest place on earth
A remarkable account of illegal travels through the deserted villages and towns near Chernobyl
Read the full article23 June 2022
Philippe Halsman: The photographer who captured the 20th century
One of the greatest portrait photographers of all time, Halsman was able to easily win the trust of some of the greatest figures in modern cultural and political history
Read the full article23 June 2022
The fantastic worlds of ETA Hoffmann
He wrote fantasy, horror and crime, invented music criticism.. and had time for a day job too
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