My interview with Melvyn Bragg in the House of Lords is a bit like a Carry On film. It had been his job to book somewhere quiet for us to talk but the dining room at teatime, alas, is chocka with chattering Lords, and we have to move into a small room that Bragg likens …
When I first visited Sir Terry Pratchett, three months ago, the field-size lawn – which leads majestically from his ancient manor house in a Wiltshire valley down to an empty brook – was neat and tamed. Now it is a riot of meadowland, as though it has run amok, with cow parsley, patches of wild …
Downton creator Julian Fellowes reveals his love for Lady Mary, answers the critics and declares his passion for a woman’s right to inherit. Beware of meeting your heroes, they say, to which I would add a new warning – beware of visiting the set of your favourite television series, which in my case is Downton …
I wondered who would bring up the Islamist episode first and, in the event, it was Amis — as cool and breezy as can be. I had arrived early and killed time sitting on a bench in the gardens opposite the substantial Chalk Farm house Amis has lived in on and off for the past …
Since Peter Mandelson is not a man on whom humility is known to sit lightly, you might think it would be galling for him to talk about other people rather than himself, particularly when he has his autobiography to promote. But Mandy — an abbreviation that seems singularly inappropriate when you meet him, so uncuddly …
Oxford’s first female Professor of Poetry resigned amid allegations of academic back-stabbing. So what on earth brought on her ‘moment of lunacy’ ? How totally unboring it must be to be Ruth Padel, and that’s quite apart from the recent hoo-ha that prompted her resignation, last May, from her short-lived stint — what should have …
Daughter of Arthur Miller, wife of Daniel Day-Lewis… It would have been easy for Rebecca Miller to be overwhelmed by the male presences in her life. Here she talks about how she found her own creative voice, and explains why her stories are filled with echoes of the family and relationships that have shaped her. …
Interviewer of the year Cole Moreton, Independent on Sunday Decca Aitkenhead, The Guardian Elizabeth Day, The Observer Ginny Dougary, The Times Lynn Barber, The Observer Robert Chalmers, Independent on Sunday
Born in Greece, educated at Cambridge and now the queen of Capitol Hill: Arianna Huffington’s superblog has made her one of the most influential political commentators in America. Vince Bucci There’s a perfect Arianna moment during our long interview in the heat of the Los Angeles summer, when I ask her whether she’s seen Swing …
You don’t just eat at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant, you have a whole sensory experience. Ginny Dougary drops by his laboratory to talk the science and psychology of food, families and uncontrollable fury. For those of us afflicted with vivid imaginations, it can be disturbing to hang out with Heston Blumenthal. Odd thoughts cross …