Lynda la plante

Life has a bad habit of mirroring art. Sometimes, this can be in a deeply sad way. A while after I wrote about the assumption of guilt in a traumatised young woman with poor social skills, I watched a

Brenda Fricker reflects on her first day at school as a little girl who was full of hope and optimism

TV presenter Steph McGovern, 43, on motherhood and Middlesbrough

L If they’re ever looking to recruit spies, forget handsome, fit, blue-eyed Bonds. Forget gym-buffed Daniel, impossibly good-looking Tom and danger magnet Matt. Look instead for a middle-aged woman in

Her lifelong passion for dogs and horses has shaped her career and lifestyle – and now it has led to her first grown-up novel. So what else lies ahead for the unstoppable Clare Balding?

My own mum despised me from the moment I was born