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Archives: Posts From March 2008

New York’s Publishing ‘Jackal’ Bags Evelyn Waugh
By Zoe Strimpel | Fri, 28 Mar 2008 | Permalink
Excerpt: England just lost another little piece of itself to the gaping jaws of American glitz and riches, and in doing so, has set the literary community here alight. Until now, the Evelyn Waugh estate was handled by the august and, once upon a time, most ...

Sarkozy Madness in Britain Capped by Carla Bruni's Nude Photo
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 26 Mar 2008 | Permalink
Excerpt: Today's the big day, and by now, the British public knows all about it. Today, the socio-political-sexual whirlwind that is M. and Mme. Sarkozy (Carla Bruni) arrived in Britain for their state visit. The itinerary includes the couple being met at ...

Hockney's Gift to the Tate Britain
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 26 Mar 2008 | Permalink
Excerpt: Patriotic spirit has led David Hockney to donate his largest painting to date, "Bigger Trees Near Warter," to Tate Britain. "I felt a duty and as an Englishman I wanted to give something to Tate Britain," he was reported as saying in the Times of London. ...

Britons: Life Sans Alcohol Would Be a Fright
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 24 Mar 2008 at 2:01 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: This country's dependence on alcohol has again made headlines. The Observer yesterday ran a story billed thus: "Britons can't imagine a life without booze." Good timing. It was Easter, but the pubs were all open. And crammed. "The fear of a life without ...

Ouch and Awww at the Royal Opera House
By Zoe Strimpel | Fri, 21 Mar 2008 at 12:17 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: In a move that combines a pained "ouch" with an admiring "awww," the Royal Opera House is to jack up the prices of its top-drawer seats to a whopping £210 ("ouch"). The rationale, according to the head of the ROH, Tony Hall, is to make other seats ...

'Jersey Boys,' Far From Home
By Zoe Strimpel | Wed, 19 Mar 2008 at 7:20 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Jersey Boys," now in its third year on Broadway, has made the leap to London. It's always touch and go when it comes to how the British — and particularly British theater critics (the most British of them all) — will react to an onslaught of sheer ...

A.S. Byatt: Women-Only Orange Prize 'Was Never Needed'
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 18 Mar 2008 at 8:52 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The intellectual's queen of women's literature, A.S. Byatt, has raised a storm by condemning the women-only Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, following yesterday's release of the long list. Ms. Byatt said that the Orange is sexist and that she has ...

In Abu Dhabi, Beauty Has Yet To Arrive
By Zoe Strimpel | Mon, 17 Mar 2008 at 9:54 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Just back from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, the greener, more staid alternative to brash Dubai. The emirate is perched atop one of the planet's most extravagant oceans of oil, and it shows — but in the strangest way. There is no street ...

Kate Moss, Pitiable Tabloid Target
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 9 Mar 2008 at 7:34 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Not that she needs it, but it's hard to live in London just now and not feel some sympathy for Kate Moss. The tabloids have her in their teeth and won't let go. She lived down the cocaine pictures in 2005 with relative ease, in part because the press ...

Shades of White: Wagner on the South Bank
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 9 Mar 2008 at 7:07 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The South Bank is such a dense complex of arts and culture that you could go crazy trying to decide what to see — or, indeed, do little else but camp out in that bit of riverside between Waterloo and Southwark for weeks on end and never get bored. ...

Greek Art — the Next Big Thing?
By Zoe Strimpel | Fri, 7 Mar 2008 at 5:19 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: For some time, the art market has been rumbling with hunger for all things Russian (old and new) and Chinese (mainly new). So it stands to reason that it's begun sniffing about for the next big thing. Could Greek art be it? Sotheby's has released a ...

Jewish Book Week Gets Vigorous 'Last Word'
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 4 Mar 2008 at 8:12 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Jewish Book Week came to a fraught close on Sunday night in a Bloomsbury hotel conference room with a "discussion" called "The Last Word: Reporting the Middle East." It was a strange shift in atmosphere, as immediately preceding had been the presentation ...

U.K. Culture Minister: The Proms Are Elitist
By Zoe Strimpel | Tue, 4 Mar 2008 at 7:35 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Britain's culture minister, Margaret Hodge, has caused an outcry by saying that the Proms, which are among London and the U.K.'s top cultural attractions, are elitist. The Proms are a lengthy summer series of mostly classical concerts held at London's ...

Coward's 'Brief Encounter' a Lively Stage-Screen Hybrid
By Zoe Strimpel | Sun, 2 Mar 2008 at 2:23 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: It is easy to forget that "Brief Encounter" — the classic 1945 film about a love affair between two married people who meet at a train station — was an adaptation of a one-act play, written by Noël Coward in 1936. What better reminder, then, than the new ...