John Marlowe, a shoemaker from Canterbury, died in 1605. His son Christopher had failed to follow him into the trade, choosing the more unreliable life of playwright, poet and jobbing spy. It had been

In defence of the libretto and the librettist

How the young Dylan Thomas repeatedly stole from others

The secret meaning of Vermeer’s art

Two recent poetry collections

From the Apennine Mountains to ‘the end of the land’ at Cape Finisterre, Louis D Hall and his horse Sasha trekked untrodden partisan paths across four mountain ranges. Guided by strangers and nature’s clues, it was fulfilment of a childhood dream inspired by Don Quixote . Here, the author shares two extracts that give a glimpse into this wilder way of life