Biography
How can Gwyneth Paltrow bear so much ridicule?
The frail-looking movie star turns out to surprisingly thick-skinned as well as shrewd: a curious combination of entrepreneurial survivor and woo-woo artiste
The spiritual journey of St Augustine
Christians should consider themselves ‘peregrini’, said Augustine, and his life on the periphery of the Roman empire taught him that we are all citizens of nowhere
It was drug addiction that killed for Elvis, not his greedy manager
‘Colonel’ Tom Parker may have struck a hard bargain to fund his compulsive gambling habit, but his devotion to Presley was total, says Peter Guralnick
The boundless enthusiasm of Asa Briggs
A prodigy from the start, the tireless historian left his fellow academics panting behind him in a long and distinguished career
The mixed legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski, strategist of the Cold War
Successful initiatives during the Carter presidency regarding the USSR, China and Afghanistan were counterbalanced by a serious misreading of the situation in Iran
The crimes of Cecil Rhodes were every bit as sinister as those of the Nazis
Through bribery and ruthless exploitation, the unapologetic racist worked to unite Africa under British rule – with consequences that still haunt us today
Elizabeth Harrower – the greatest Australian writer you’ve never heard of
The friend of Patrick White and Christina Stead abruptly withdrew her fifth novel in 1971 and gave up writing altogether – only now to be hailed as ‘one of the great novelists of Sydney’
The enigma of Tiger Woods
The Tiger Woods industry continues to flourish, but the man himself never now gives interviews, so any insights into his feelings are second-hand at best
Have the Gallaghers suffered from ‘naked classism’?
Their biographer thinks so. But if 1980s Britain had been less class-ridden, the brilliant Noel might have been drawn to further education, got a ‘good’ job and been lost to music forever
‘Too bohemian for Bournemouth’: the young Lawrence Durrell
Begged by his mother to go somewhere his behaviour wouldn’t ‘show so much’, the future novelist, aged 19, embarked on a lifetime of travel and rarely visited Britain again
The Spectator letter that marked a turning point in gay history
Signing his real name (a brave decision for a homosexual in 1960), Roger Butler sparked a good deal of discussion on a ‘shunned topic’, which eventually led to a change in the law
Admirable in their awfulness – the siblings Gus and Gwen John
The self-styled Gypsy King and his reclusive sister seemed polar opposites – but both painters were selfish, obsessive monsters, according to Judith Mackrell
Nunc est bidendum – to Horace, the lusty rebel
Peter Stothard’s portrait of an ambitious young Lothario running wild and refusing to knuckle down is certainly not the Horace we know from Latin lessons
Everyone who was anyone in Russia was spied on – including Stalin
In 1972,Vasili Mitrokhin oversaw the transfer of thousands of documents in the KGB archives and secretly noted the atrocities they revealed - though Stalin’s file was mysteriously empty
What Mark Twain owed to Charles Dickens
It wasn’t just Dickens’s stage performances and publishing ventures that fascinated Twain, but the witty, journalistic style, which he mimicked to great effect in early travel books
Douglas Cooper – a complex character with a passion for Cubism
Prone to paranoia and tantrums, the critic and collector made many enemies, but his firsthand knowledge of Léger, Picasso and Braque also won the admiration of art historians
‘I secreted a venom which spurted out indiscriminately’ – Muriel Spark
Frances Wilson’s mesmerising biography of one of the past century’s most singular writers is especially enlightening on the ‘domestic savagery’ often required of a great artist
Thomas More’s courage is an inspiration for all time
His willingness to stand firm and speak truth to power is an important lesson for us all, says Joanne Paul – who draws many parallels between Henry VIII and today’s autocrats
The mystifying cult status of Gertrude Stein
The American author (of mostly unreadable books) was revered in 1920s Paris and became an international celebrity – though no one was quite sure why
The problem with Pascal’s wager
Graham Tomlin focuses on the Catholic philosopher’s search for intellectual certainty, but the cosmic gamble’s serious flaws don’t get the attention they deserve
Richard Ellmann: the man and his masks
James Joyce’s celebrated biographer seemed a mild man to fellow academics – but his ambition and steely self-belief made him a callous husband and father
Rafael Nadal: king of the orange brick court
No tennis player was so well suited to the centre court at Roland Garros, where the Spaniard won a record of 14 French Open titles
The love that conquered every barrier – including the Iron Curtain
Iain Pears tells the dramatic story of how two art historians – one English, one Russian – met by chance in Venice and found they couldn’t live without each other
The psychiatrist obsessed with ‘reprogramming’ minds
William Sargant’s controversial treatments of troubled young women in the 1960s included prolonged induced comas, ECT and, in extreme cases, lobotomies
William Blake still weaves his mystic spell
Philip Hoare considers the ageless, hypnotic appeal of the painter, poet, visionary and ‘one-man utopia’
