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Ooh,” coos Richard Armitage, “I like the fact that you’ve referred to me as an author!” The reason I’ve described him as such is because his first novel is out this week. But he’s excited to be referred to that way because, of course, he’s better known as an actor – as Thorin, the dwarf king in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy; as Lucas North in the BBC spy drama Spooks; and for other scene-pilfering roles, from Dawn French’s The Vicar of Dibley to Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya and, earlier this year, the darkly erotic Netflix drama Obsession. The reason Armitage...

Michael Rosen sniffs his armpit, winces slightly and confirms that, no, there is “no danger” of his marketing a candle with a scent based on that of his intimate body parts. “I’m not Gwyneth Paltrow,” he explains, “and I’m not some kind of guru.” Instead, says the writer and broadcaster, “I’m somebody who has had some experiences, tried to chew over them and written about them in case people find that at all helpful.”   He’s downplaying not just the wisdom with which his latest book, Getting Better, is laced, but also how hard-won it has been. It covers his...

Book of the Month: The Premonitions Bureau   Listening back to my recording of this interview is a distinctly spooky experience. We are speaking two days before the Queen’s death, and Sam Knight – who has written a book about people who can see the future – asks me: “What if I had a vivid, specific premonition that something dreadful was about to happen at Balmoral?”   Normally, I’d wave this off as mere coincidence (it’s the day of Liz Truss’s audience with Her Majesty, so that’s probably why it’s in his mind), but Knight’s book poses enough troubling questions...

Coronation Day 1953 was a massive event in British public life and for the BBC – as ever, Radio Times was your essential guide…   One of the biggest days in British history was a long time coming. The 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth had acceded to the throne in February 1952, following the death of her father, King George VI.  She was Queen for more than a year before the detailed plans for her Coronation fell into place on Tuesday 2 June 1953: the ceremony itself in Westminster Abbey, the coach procession through central London, the public celebrations and street parties,...

The peak of British television light entertainment,” declares Louis Barfe, “began at 8.55pm on Sunday 25 December 1977.” And who would dare disagree with the author and expert on vintage British comedy?   The 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show – featuring Elton John, Angela Rippon, the cast of The Good Life and a host of heavyweight broadcasters dressed as sailors singing There Is Nothing like a Dame – encapsulates everything we still hold dear about Britain’s greatest comic duo: their daftness, daring and deceptive guile. “Affectionate mockery was what they did best,” says Barfe , author of Sunshine and...