The wide-eyed poster-girl for the swinging 60s
Arwa Haider Features correspondent Alamy (Credit: Alamy) At the age of 16, Marianne Faithfull was spotted at a party and went on to record a single co-written by Mick Jagger. Arwa Haider discovers how the teenager became a muse for The Rolling Stones – before forging a career as one of Britain’s most enduring female […]
The Greta Garbo of China
Vivienne Chow Features correspondent Alamy There remains intense interest in Ruan Lingyu and the mystery surrounding her death. Who was the enigmatic film star? Vivienne Chow finds out. It’s been 82 years since Ruan Lingyu took her own life but the legend of the silent screen goddess lives on. Despite the fact that many of […]
Was this billionaire recluse truly mad?
Nicholas Barber Features correspondent Alamy Howard Hughes is the archetypal super-rich hermit, said never to have trimmed his nails and to have kept urine in jars. But who was he really? Nicholas Barber takes a look. It takes a brave director to tackle a life story that Martin Scorsese has already put on screen, but […]
The most important TV show ever?
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong Features correspondent ABC Roots was the most-watched miniseries in the US when it aired in 1977. Can the remake match it? Jennifer Keishin Armstrong takes a look. When ABC network executives decided to air a miniseries based on Alex Haley’s novel Roots in 1977, they took every possible precaution to cut their […]
Why Spice Girls’ Wannabe is the catchiest song of all time
Sam Rigby Features correspondent Alamy One study identified the girl group’s debut as pop’s most recognisable hit, but 20 years later, what’s really behind its continued success? When the Spice Girls released Wannabe in the UK on 8 July 1996, nobody could have foreseen what followed: two years of what can only be described as […]
She Can Play: FA People’s Cup 2016 runners-up to expand girls coaching scheme
But the story did not end there for She Can Play. Kat, who has played for Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and West Ham Ladies, had a clear mission – to get more girls and women to play and stay in football. She Can Play put on girls- and women-only football sessions in Essex, working with […]
Europe’s Solheim and Ryder Cup teams boosted by Charley Hull and Shane Lowry’s good finishes
Professional golfers prefer to deal in wins, but sometimes high finishes are victories in their own right. Certainly Charley Hull and Shane Lowry would have preferred to spend Monday morning arranging space for new trophies, but both can reflect on very successful weekends. Hull was runner-up at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati in […]
Breaking the NFL’s gender barrier
“There are four main university teams playing full-contact football – Hertfordshire, who are the national champions, Portsmouth, Southampton and Royal Holloway in London – but at least a couple more, including Warwick and Coventry, have ‘flag’ teams [where players are “tackled” by opponents ripping a flag from their waistband, rather than wrestled to the ground].” […]
Glasgow 2014: Day seven Scottish interest at-a-glance
Scotland only has two divers in the event, one of whom is James Heatly. The 16-year-old is the grandson of British Empire Games gold medallist Sir Peter Heatley’s and takes to the 1m springboard in the preliminary round, with the final later in the day. 08:45 BST – Lawn Bowls With his 100% record still […]
How workplaces are phasing out the tattoo stigma
Elizabeth Hotson Features correspondent Mykola Romanovsky (Credit: Mykola Romanovsky) More people are getting tattoos – so workplaces must be keeping up, right? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. “In the last few years, tattooing’s gone absolutely berserk.” That’s George Bone’s take on what he sees as the mainstream take-over of tattoos. Even at […]