The legacy

Maurice Ravel has been an enduring part of my world, both as a performer and teacher. As a little girl I played the Mouvement de menuet from his Sonatine at a piano competition, which the renowned pia

For almost 30 years, Valerie Finnis was a distinguished and charismatic teacher at the Waterperry Horticultural school for Women, near Oxford, founded in 1932 by the fearsomely smocked and gaitered Be

An ocean of prejudice met the American heiresses who came to Britain at the dawn of the 20th century, but there was more to them than their wealth. Some earned their own titles, one flew helicopters and another made history as Britain’s first female MP

Comedy historian Robert Ross pays tribute to some of the finest and funniest, but often overlooked, names in showbiz

The rebellious charm and cruelty of a high-society mischief maker

A major new exhibition, Morris Mania: How Britain’s Greatest Designer Went Viral, has recently been launched to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the William Morris Gallery at Walthamstow, east London