'Spaghetti Junction was finished just as the early excitement about motorways was curdling into disillusionment.' Photograph: wherrett.com/Alamy Happy birthday Spaghetti Junction, 40 today. As it enters middle age, it is worth reflecting on what the Gravelly Hill Interchange near Birmingham says about our changing cultural attitudes to roads. It's hard to remember now but when it was completed, it generated a certain amount of giddy excitement. A Burton-on-Trent coach firm ran guided tours to see it, and it featured as a scenic backdrop in the 1973 film musical Take Me High, in which Cliff Richard plays a merchant banker who lives on a canal barge in Birmingham. In one scene, with a moody instrumental of Moog synthesisers playing in the background, Cliff whooshes along the ... Continue reading →
Cast of charactersThe Cromwell household Thomas Cromwell, a blacksmith's son: now Secretary to the king, Master of the Rolls, Chancellor of Cambridge University, and deputy to the king as head of the church in England.Gregory Cromwell, his son.Rafe Sadler, his chief clerk, brought up by Cromwell as his son.The deadThomas Wolsey, cardinal, papal legate, Lord Chancellor: dismissed from office, arrested and died, 1530.Thomas More, Lord Chancellor after Wolsey: executed 1535.Elizabeth, Anne and Grace Cromwell, Thomas Cromwell's wife and daughters, died 1527–28.The king's family and courtiersHenry VIII.Anne Boleyn, his second wife.Katherine of Aragon, Henry's first wife, divorced and under house arrest at Kimbolton.Hans Holbein, a painter.The clericThomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury: Cromwell's friend.The ambassadorEustache Chapuys, ambassador of Emperor Charles V.The Seymour family of Wolf HallOld Sir ... Continue reading →
If the thought of eating fermented cabbage makes you squirm, then perhaps you're not ready for it – but plenty of others are. Kimchi, a staple of Korean cuisine which marries raw vegetables with spices, is enjoying growing popularity far west of Seoul or Pyongyang. A spicier, more colourful, cousin of Germany's sauerkraut, it can lighten up a number of meals: simply eaten with rice, added to stews for depth of flavour, slathered on a fried egg sitting on top of a bed of wilted spring greens, or replacing onions in a hot dog. Variations are almost infinite, but a good start would be to bring together shredded Napa cabbage, daikon radish, garlic, ginger, fish paste and sugar, along with a generous helping of chilli ... Continue reading →
Late night fun at Le Bateau For hundreds of people in Liverpool, Friday and Saturday night out meant one thing - a night out in Le Bateau. No matter how tough a week you'd had, no matter what was going on in your life, no matter where you planned on going at the weekend - the circle of life wasn't complete until you'd danced your socks off on the boards of Le Bateau. Down the years, Le Bat hosted a number of seminal live bands, from Le Tigre, Make Up, Silver Apples and Arab Strap while colourful DJs added their brand of cool to the sweat-stained ceiling of The Boat, including Tjinder and Ben from Cornershop, St Etienne's Bob Stanley, Add N to X's Barry ... Continue reading →
