Go tell the congregation

Choral singers and their music directors around the UK will be raising brimful glasses on 24 September in celebration of Sir John Rutter’s 80th birthday. His music is, after all, buried deep in the mu

Chandos Anthems Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen Alpha Classics ALPHA1153 75:08 mins Today’s historians could have a field day besmirching this music as being the product of a morally corrupt society. After c

Portrait of George Frideric Handel by William Hoare

A poet who prospered despite Rome’s bloody civil wars

It’s there beside the guildhall. A large grey stone surrounded by Victorian railings. Over the years, countless visitors to Kingston-upon-Thames have strolled past it, many barely registering its exis

When I was aged 10, the farmers used to come round the schools to pick volunteers to work on the farms during the summer holidays, mainly to help bring in the harvest. The country was still building u