Song of courage

‘I felt that I should like to kiss the hands that had awakened a new world of music for me.’ The year was 1888, the occasion was the Paris debut of a 27-year-old pianist named Ignacy Jan Paderewski. A

In defence of the libretto and the librettist

Leigh Lawson has embraced acting and poetry with the same determination that sustained Marie Lloyd, the music-hall queen whose memorabilia he collects, as Carla Passino discovers

American footballers have shoulders artificially enlarged by statement armour; tailors in Naples don’t use shoulder padding, preferring a more easy-going look, flattering the body rather than exaggera

The year 1966 saw a new bright star light up the London stage. The play was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and the playwright was Tom Stoppard who, at 29, was the youngest person ever to have a

The older I get, the more I come to appreciate the buildings that surround me. I grew up in and around Cardiff and, on finally returning to live in south Wales five years ago, I delighted in seeing on