BooksIl miglior fabbroJames Fenton looks at English translations of Dante asks why he has served as a touchstone for poets writing in EnglishFor much of the last century, Dante has served as a touchstone for poets writing in English. It is not entirely obvious why this should be so. Petrarch was just as famous in his day, and was once a far more pervasive influence on the English tradition. Influence itself is something of a mystery.
Ask PhilippaRelationshipsDon’t take your feelings too seriously, observe them instead. This will help you to make sense of them
The question Please take this seriously as I really need some genuine advice. I have a crush on someone who I feel completely consumed by whenever I see or even think about them. We’re both married and we only talk face to face, never online. I have to admit that he has never given me any reason to think he likes me in that way.
TheatreNassim Soleimanpour is not allowed to leave Iran. His play, with no director, no rehearsals and no set, draws attention to his status as a censored writerModern theatre audiences have become accustomed to being told to switch off their mobile phones before the start of a play; but those attending White Rabbit, Red Rabbit – a new work from 29-year-old Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour at the Gate theatre in London – are specifically instructed to keep their phones turned on.
eBay This article is more than 11 months oldWinner of Mr Blobby eBay auction backs out of £62,000 bidThis article is more than 11 months oldNoel’s House Party costume originally listed on eBay for £39 by anonymous former BBC employee
The winner of an online auction to buy an original Mr Blobby costume has backed out just an hour after bidding £62,000 for the sought-after item.
Although the outfit was originally listed on eBay for £39, the price increased once it began attracting attention online.
ThrillersReviewTom Rob Smnith concludes his trilogy of Soviet thrillersAgent 6 is the third in Tom Rob Smith's trilogy about a former MGB agent, Leo Demidov. It opens with a flashback to the younger Leo in 1950, a committed secret policeman of 27 who has just discovered the of a young artist. Polina Peshkova has committed no crime beyond wanting to keep for herself some private space, but like millions of others in the Soviet Union, she is sucked into what Evgenia Ginzburg described as "
From the Guardian archiveFashion15 October 1996 Fashion house Givenchy makes the 27-year-old self-proclaimed East End yob its designer Sitting in the front row, surrounded by French fashion glitterati – all big hair, big shoulder pads and, it goes without saying, big money – the 27-year-old maverick of British fashion, Lee Alexander McQueen, couldn’t have looked more out of place. He is, after all, the designer whose past accolades have included (famously, during his Savile Row apprenticeship) scrawling obscenities inside the lining of a jacket destined for the Prince of Wales, mooning at the paparazzi on the catwalk and generally f-ing and blinding his way through kissy-kissy fashion life.
NOOKS AND CRANNIESCan I drink hard liquor after drinking wine without being sick? Mereatta Knox, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Of course you can. I'd try a bottle of Tanqueray to begin with. See how you go. If that doesn't work, well at least you know now. Proof positive, so to speak. Daniel Lillford, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, Canada
You guys make me worry I'm hardened alcoholic. I commonly accompany a good dinner with a good wine and then finish it off with an espresso and a brandy.
The ObserverBBC This article is more than 3 months old‘Distressed’ BBC staff get mental health support over Israel-Hamas warThis article is more than 3 months oldAbuse and complaints taking their toll on reporters, as well as trauma of assignments
The BBC is offering extra support to staff who are facing abuse and attacks over the corporation’s Israel-Hamas coverage.
Some staff have reported being targeted online or verbally attacked for working for the BBC, while also dealing with distressing footage from the conflict.
TelevisionObituaryEric Chappell obituaryWriter of Rising Damp, The Bounder, Duty Free and other successful television sitcomsAlthough he wrote several popular television sitcom series in the 1980s, Eric Chappell, who has died aged 88, was best known for his first success, Rising Damp (1974-78), produced at Yorkshire Television and starring Leonard Rossiter as the overweening, lecherous landlord Rupert Rigsby and Frances de la Tour as one of his lodgers, Ruth Jones, in a northern university town.
Let's move to ...PropertyIt's forgotten about, but for how long?What's going for it? There are few scraps of France not conquered by the Brits, few provincial Carrefours where you will not hear dulcet Surrey tones in the drinks aisle inquiring, "Cabernet or saumur, darling?" Except Quercy. Nobody's heard of Quercy. But there it is, wedged between Bordeaux, Toulouse and the Lot, the last sliver of France not yet to have quite fallen to the Margots and Jerrys.