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Articles by Simon Hattenstone
‘Some things are worth dying for': Karl Bushby's incredible 28-year walk home, through deserts, kidnappers and polar bears
‘It's a big moment,” says Karl Bushby, who has had plenty of big moments in his life. He is recording himself on his phone for social media. “We're in Dover, and I'm about to have my first fish and chips and mushy peas in 28 years. Mushy peas, my God, I forgot they even existed!” He points his phone at the plate in front of him. “It better be good.” And he tucks in. “Mmmm. See, this is a big chunk of fish and a decent bit of batter, and that's something you don't see in other parts of the world.
‘Some things are worth dying for’: Karl Bushby’s incredible 28-year walk home, through deserts, kidnappers and polar bears
Making history … Bushby in Alaska in 2005. Photograph: Courtesy of Karl Bushby ‘It’s a big moment,” says Karl Bushby, who has had plenty of big moments in his life. He is recording himself on his phone for social media. “We’re in Dover, and I’m about to have my first fish and chips and mushy peas in 28 years. Mushy peas, my God, I forgot they even existed!” He points his phone at the plate in front of him. “It better be good.” And he tucks in. “Mmmm.
‘Some things are worth dying for’: Karl Bushby’s incredible 28-year walk home, through deserts, kidnappers and polar bears
‘It’s a big moment,” says Karl Bushby, who has had plenty of big moments in his life. He is recording himself on his phone for social media. “We’re in Dover, and I’m about to have my first fish and chips and mushy peas in 28 years. Mushy peas, my God, I forgot they even existed!” He points his phone at the plate in front of him. “It better be good.” And he tucks in. “Mmmm. See, this is a big chunk of fish and a decent bit of batter, and that’s something you don’t see in other parts of the world.
We Manchester City fans fear relegation and losing trophies but club are bang to rights
It couldn't have been more prophetic. In 2008, 15 years before Manchester City were charged with financial fraud, fans started singing “City's going down with a billion in the bank” to the tune of Yellow Submarine. This was because the former Thailand president Thaksin Shinawatra's 15-month ownership of City had come to an abrupt end when more than £1bn of his assets were frozen . And although Sheikh Mansour of the UAE had stepped in to save City, we were sinking fast.
‘We’ve been on a good run lately. We’ve not had a row for weeks!’: Coleen and Wayne Rooney on marriage, mistakes and making reality TV
default “If you’d said to me 10 years ago, ‘You’re going to be doing a TV show about the family’, I would have said, ‘No chance’,” Wayne Rooney says. Few would have disagreed. After all, he and his wife Coleen had spent their adult lifetime running away from the public gaze. And not very successfully, at that. Wayne, a wonderful footballer with the strength of a bull and agility of an acrobat, was often back-page news.
‘I am seen as a Marmite figure’: Margaret Hodge on political battles, victories, errors – and regrets
Margaret Hodge doesn’t do small talk. “So, how d’you think Andy’s doing?” is her opening gambit. “Not too bad, huh? I think he’s had a really good start.” It’s classic Hodge – sufficiently curious to ask the question about the new Labour prime minister, and assertive enough to provide the answer before you get yours out. “Yep. Fantastic empathy. But then he’s got to deliver. I think the budget is going to be the key moment. And we’ve also got these awful global challenges and Iran and Hormuz.
‘I don’t chase the dollar. I never did’: the astonishing hidden life of Mr T
Mr T explains why he’s late, but he wants to make one thing clear – this is not an apology. “You caught me in my devotion, and nothing comes before God. So I won’t say I apologise for the delay. I just want you to know that God comes first in all my life. For allowing my success, I give God the glory.” He is here to discuss a new Netflix documentary, Untold Mr T: I Pity the Fool. At 74, he rarely gives interviews. But when Mr T decides to talk, he really does talk. What Mr T thinks, Mr T says.
The extraordinary untold story of Freddie Mercury: Mary Austin on her best friend – and love of her life
There were four silver trunks in Mary Austin’s attic that she packed in the mid-1980s and hadn’t opened since. It was too painful. Almost 40 years on, in 2022, she opened one. It was crammed with lyrics from songs written by Freddie Mercury – Don’t Stop Me Now, Killer Queen, We Are the Champions and, of course, Bohemian Rhapsody. She shut the case. It was still too painful. “To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement,” she says. “I couldn’t look at the lyrics.
‘In 1984, I worked 363 days’: how Russ Abbot soared to success – then walked away
The electronic gates slide open to reveal a gorgeous Portuguese villa, a swimming pool and a beansprout of a man. "You've made me feel very important," says Russ Abbot with a smile. "Come in!" It's more than 30 years since Abbot, aged 78, dominated Saturday night TV with his sketches, songs and impersonations. He appealed to all sorts. Kids, parents and grandparents united around the TV – first for Russ Abbot's Madhouse, which ran from 1980 to 1985, then The Russ Abbot Show, from 1986 to 1991.
‘In 1984, I worked 363 days': How Russ Abbot soared to success – then walked away
The electronic gates slide open to reveal a gorgeous Portuguese villa, a swimming pool and a beansprout of a man. “You've made me feel very important,” says Russ Abbot with a smile. “Come in!” It's more than 30 years since Abbot, aged 78, dominated Saturday night TV with his sketches, songs and impersonations. He appealed to all sorts. Kids, parents and grandparents united around the TV – first for Russ Abbot's Madhouse, which ran from 1980 to 1985, then The Russ Abbot Show, from 1986 to 1991.
Jeremy Bamber's legal team challenge ban on his talking to the media
The legal team of Jeremy Bamber, who has served 41 years in prison for murdering five members of his family, has challenged Wakefield prison's decision to ban him from talking about his case to the media and long-term supporters. His lawyers have issued a claim for judicial review against the secretary of state for justice and the governor of the category A high-security prison, arguing that it is violating his right to free speech and obstructing his access to justice.
Prison without hope or end is psychological torture. Burnham doesn't need another review to tell him that
In January 2015, Tommy Nicol told his family that he was suffering “psychological torture of a person who is doing 99 years”. Nicol had been given an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence six years earlier for stealing a car from a garage and injuring the owner. He was already two years beyond his four-year tariff – the minimum time you can serve in prison before being considered for release. Nicol was given another two-year knock-back from the Parole Board and was in despair.
‘I’ve sat at the very precipice of life’: ex-footballer Clarke Carlisle on gambling, depression – and survival
‘How are you?” I ask Clarke Carlisle. Usually when you meet people it’s a nicety. Not with Carlisle. He smiles ecstatically. “I’m incredibly well, thank you. Yeah, really, really good,” says the former footballer and incoming chair of the mental health charity Mind. “I have been consistently well – not just stable, but well – for three or four years now.” Few people understand what it is to be mentally unwell quite like Carlisle does. And few understand what recovery means like he does.
‘I never mentioned it for 25 years. I didn't want to be a victim of the bomb': Hiroshima survivor Koko Kondo on horror, anger and forgiveness
Koko Kondo holds up a tiny salmon-pink dress. “This is what I was wearing,” she says. The dress, with its white-ribboned collar, is in perfect condition. A miracle. On 6 August 1945, Koko was eight months old and crawling on a tatami mat at the family parsonage. Mrs Takaki, a member of the church, had just popped round to have a chat with Chisa, Koko's mother. Chisa gathered Koko up in her arms so she wouldn't be a distraction, and they stood by the door.
‘I never mentioned it for 25 years. I didn’t want to be a victim of the bomb’: Hiroshima survivor Koko Kondo on horror, anger and forgiveness
Koko Kondo holds up a tiny salmon-pink dress. “This is what I was wearing,” she says. The dress, with its white-ribboned collar, is in perfect condition. A miracle. On 6 August 1945, Koko was eight months old and crawling on a tatami mat at the family parsonage. Mrs Takaki, a member of the church, had just popped round to have a chat with Chisa, Koko’s mother. Chisa gathered Koko up in her arms so she wouldn’t be a distraction, and they stood by the door.
Lizzo answers her critics: ‘I’m a fat, black, happy girl – they were always going to try to tear me down’
On 30 July 2023, Lizzo finished a 10-month world tour. She had played 80 shows across North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia, selling more than 853,000 tickets and grossing $86.3m. The rapper turned pop star was on top of the world. Then everything came crashing down. Two days later, three of her former dancers alleged that they had been subject to sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, religious and racial discrimination and fat-shaming on the tour. Two had been sacked, and one resigned.
‘I understand why some people think I’m a bitch’: world no 1 Aryna Sabalenka on screaming, stunt matches, and why she’s much nicer off court
It’s less than a month since Aryna Sabalenka told the world that she felt like walking away from tennis. The world No 1 had suffered an almighty implosion. Sabalenka is as famous for her implosions as she is for her on-court ferocity. But this was a different level. She had been playing at her imperious best in the French Open, one of tennis’s four major tournaments.
‘I felt I could smash my past up through sex’: the ruthlessness and redemption of Rupert Everett
“I am chubby,” insists Everett, in his breathy, blue-blooded drawl. Well, none of us are as thin as we once were, I intercede, and you were probably too skinny back then. Everett gives me a magnificent how-very-dare-you look. “No, I wasn’t. I was wonderful-looking at one point. I had muscles. Everything.” He’s talking about his golden era in the movies, when he was big box office. “It was quite short-lived. I call it my Hollywood year.” He chuckles. Everett’s got a wonderful chuckle. A barely audible hum.
Versatile, skilful, graceful, lovable and spiky: Bernardo Silva is in a sphere of his own
Bernardo Silva controls the play for Manchester City during their Champions League final victory against Inter in Istanbul three seasons ago. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Bernardo Silva is more than a footballer. He’s a time-travelling, shapeshifting superhero. He even looks like a superhero – a nine-volt battery of a man doing battle with feral giants on the pitch. In 55 years of watching football I’ve never seen anybody or anything like him.
I’ve been writing to Jeremy Bamber for years, but suddenly the prison has stopped me. Why?
‘Jeremy Bamber has been writing to journalists ever since he was jailed in 1985.’ Photograph: Andrew Hunter/PA A few weeks ago I wrote a lengthy email to Jeremy Bamber, who has been in prison for nearly 41 years after being convicted of murdering five family members. Bamber has always protested his innocence, and the late Guardian prison correspondent Eric Allison and I have frequently written about Bamber and the White House Farm murders in the Guardian over the years.
I've been writing to Jeremy Bamber for years, but suddenly the prison has stopped me. Why?
Simon Hattenstone In the email, I asked about aspects of his case as I often do, chatted about a football match I'd been to with my younger daughter at the weekend, mentioned that I'd been out for lunch with a forensics expert, and said we had an amazing blossom tree across the road that had just come into full bloom. I also emailed a photo of the blossom tree. Bamber has been writing to journalists since he was jailed in 1985.
Jeremy Bamber banned from communicating with media from prison
Group campaigning to challenge Bamber’s conviction has said he is no longer allowed by prison authorities to correspond with journalists.Photograph: Andrew Hunter/PA Jeremy Bamber, who has served more than 40 years in prison for murdering five members of his family, has been banned from communicating with the media.
‘Men are so frightened of being too cuddly or affectionate’: Danny Dyer on going from hardman to heart-throb in Rivals
Danny Dyer photographed in London last month. Photograph: Jay Brooks/The Guardian Danny Dyer is dressed in white and carrying a huge bouquet of flowers when I drop in on his Guardian photoshoot. “Hello, baby,” he says to me in a voice so bad-boy East End, so fabulously filthy, that he sounds like a parody of Danny Dyer. We’ve never met before, but you wouldn’t guess. Dyer has been in the limelight for 30 years, but never like this. As he approaches 50, he has become a middle-aged heart-throb.
‘I wanted alcohol to take me to a place where I was not’: comedian John Robins on the moment he realised he had a drinking problem
John Robins: ‘There’s something about alcohol.’Photograph: Pål Hansen/The Guardian (Photograph: Pål Hansen/The Guardian) The comedian John Robins has always loved talking about booze. In his standup, he used to portray himself as a bon viveur who knew how to give himself the best of times; a larky drinker out for a laugh; a nerdy tippler who recorded nights out in Sherlock Holmes-themed notepads – arrival time, drinks consumed, percentages of alcohol, pub atmosphere.
My mom, the cult leader: ‘She told us what to wear, when to pray, how we would have sex. We were prisoners’
Deborah Green, leader of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, being arrested in New Mexico in 2017.Photograph: Cibola County Sheriff’s Office/AP Sarah Green realised things weren’t right in the religious community where she was raised when her mother forced three of its members to live in a locked shed. All three were women, disowned by their husbands, and forced to live off scraps of food. Her mother, Deborah Green, said they had been judged by God and this was their punishment.
‘I was in the pit of despair': Non-speaking autistic novelist Woody Brown on his journey from write-off to writer
Simon Hattenstone ‘May I say that I'm very glad to meet you,” Woody Brown taps on his word board. Brown is formal, funny and strikingly eloquent. He has a formidable ability to tell stories that reach into the mind of his characters and express what they are thinking, and what they think others are thinking about them. Brown is also autistic and non-speaking. His first novel, Upward Bound, tells the story of everyday life at the eponymous adult day care centre in southern California.
‘I was in the pit of despair’: Non-speaking autistic novelist Woody Brown on his journey from write-off to writer
Woody Brown at Travel Town in Los Angeles, CA.Photograph: Maggie Shannon/The Guardian (Photograph: Maggie Shannon/The Guardian) ‘May I say that I’m very glad to meet you,” Woody Brown taps on his word board. Brown is formal, funny and strikingly eloquent. He has a formidable ability to tell stories that reach into the mind of his characters and express what they are thinking, and what they think others are thinking about them. Brown is also autistic and non-speaking.
‘I realised Mum’s great gift was not to advise me’ … Simon with his mother in 2018.Composite: Guardian Design; supplied Image (Composite: Guardian Design; supplied Image) Mum was a brilliant non-giver of advice. Now Dad, he had his pearls. “If you do something, do it with a good heart.” It sounded platitudinous to me, but he had a point.
The unbelievable life of Leo Sayer! The songs, the sex, being swindled – and a spooky phone call from Elvis
Simon Hattenstone Thu, 12 March 2026 at 5:00 am UTC 18 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. ‘I see positivity in everything. This optimism I have can be blinding’ … Leo Sayer (right) with Elton John and Bob Geldof at a House of Commons reception, in 1980. Photograph: Mirrorpix/Getty Images (Photograph: Mirrorpix/Getty Images) Leo Sayer has stories. Boy, does he have stories! Muhammad Ali? Stories. Keith Moon? Stories. Elvis Presley? Stories.
Corinne Bailey Rae: ‘If you weren’t tits-out-for-the-lads, they called you middle of the road’
Simon Hattenstone Wed, 4 March 2026 at 5:00 am UTC 13 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. ‘I remember feeling like that’s the end of my life. I was so incapacitated’ … Corinne Bailey Rae.Photograph: Ulrike Rindermann (Photograph: Ulrike Rindermann) Twenty years ago, Corinne Bailey Rae had her first huge hit single, and her only one. Put Your Records On was one of the great feelgood anthems of 2006.
The silencer and the White House Farm murders: is this the evidence that could free Jeremy Bamber?
Composite: Guardian Design; handout; subjug;claudiodivizia/Getty Images; ANL/Shutterstock default On 7 August 1985, five people were found dead at White House Farm in Essex, England: 28-year-old Sheila Caffell (familiarly known as Bambi); her six-year-old twin sons Daniel and Nicholas; and her adoptive parents, June and Nevill Bamber. All five had been shot with a rifle.
‘She did kill. There’s no grey area there’: Labour MP Naz Shah on the day she and her mother were arrested for murder
Naz Shah: ‘It’s an interesting life I’ve had.’ Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian Naz Shah found it thrilling when she was arrested on suspicion of murder. “I’ll be honest with you, I had fun. It was the most excitement I’d ever had in my flipping life. I’d never been to a police station before. I was 18 and wet behind the ears. I was this really sheltered kid who’d been arrested. And I was like, they’ve got it wrong, so in my head it was all going to be over soon,” the MP for Bradford West says.
‘You call it a shitshow – I say it’s unforgivable’: Lisa Nandy on Epstein, Mandelson and Labour’s torrid week
“It’s been a quiet week!” says Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, with a big smile. Nandy is surprisingly upbeat considering her government has just had a near-death experience after less than two years in power. She introduces me to Owen, her communications adviser. “Owen is going to sit in, in case I say something really fucking stupid, and I have to apologise to the nation.” Is that likely? “Erm, it’s possible. It has been known.” Actually, I’ve always been soft left. I hate that phrase.
‘Am I at peak popularity? I hope not’: on the road with Zack Polanski, from protest to podcast to Heaven nightclub
Zack Polanski: ‘People often talk to me as if we know each other.’Photograph: Sebastian Nevols/The Guardian 17 JANUARY 2026 “I’m dying for a wee,” Zack Polanski says as he gets off the train at Wakefield Westgate. Why didn’t you go on the train, I ask? “It was very busy and too many people recognised me on the way to the toilet. I knew I’d never get there for all the conversations, so I came back.” When did it become hard for him to go to the toilet on a train? “2 September,” he says.
‘I’m loving this era I’ve been thrust into’: Denise Welch on depression, daytime TV and her dramatic renaissance
Denise Welch: ‘Fame in isolation is no fun. I would hate to be famous without a talent to back it up.’ Photographs: David Titlow/The GuardianPhotograph: David Titlow/The Guardian Denise Welch doesn’t seem the kind of woman who would turn up with an entourage. But here she is having her hair primped in a makeshift changing room by two people. One tickling her fringe, the other tweaking her tufts. Blimey, I say, have you got two assistants? She grins.
‘It could be a shoe or a stick’: Sajid Javid on being beaten by his father, petty crime – and turning his life around
Javid at home in London. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian In 2019, when Sajid Javid was home secretary, he spoke about growing up on “the most dangerous street in Britain” and said how easy it would have been to fall into a life of crime. Fortunately, he said, he managed to avoid trouble. But it turns out that Javid was being a little economical with the truth. He did get into trouble. Serious trouble. Now 56, he has just published his childhood memoir, The Colour of Home.
The pub that changed me: 'As soon as I got behind the bar, I panicked'
The Friendship Inn, Prestwich I adored pubs. They were my natural home. And now, thanks to my best friend, Ned, I'd got a job at the Friendship Inn in Prestwich. It was the mid-1980s, and I was in my early 20s, preparing for the first shift. What could be better than working in a pub called the Friendship alongside my bezzy? And I understood drink – you left Guinness to stand, aimed for half an inch of head on a pint of bitter, and if someone asked for water with a whisky you didn't fill the glass.
'As soon as I got behind the bar, I panicked'
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The pub that changed me: ‘As soon as I got behind the bar, I panicked’
Simon Hattenstone, circa 1980.Composite: Guardian Design; Courtesy of Simon Hattenstone (Composite: Guardian Design; Courtesy of Simon Hattenstone) The Friendship Inn, Prestwich I adored pubs. They were my natural home. And now, thanks to my best friend, Ned, I’d got a job at the Friendship Inn in Prestwich. It was the mid-1980s, and I was in my early 20s, preparing for the first shift. What could be better than working in a pub called the Friendship alongside my bezzy?
My favourite family photo: ‘I bucketed 30 years of tears that day – then smiled my smiliest smile’
Simon Hattenstone and Diane Taylor during their civil partnership ceremony. Composite: Guardian Design; Tomekbudujedomek/Getty Images; handout Diane and I had been living together for more than 30 years, and our children were 28 and 26 when we got civilled. We’d never wanted to get married. It seemed a bit too pipe and slippers. It also felt like tempting fate. We were really happy without being married, so why change things? And you can’t have more of a commitment than children.
Tried using the new online GP booking system? I have – and it was almost as miserable as my chest infection
A couple of months ago the health secretary, Wes Streeting, rolled out his latest master plan to save the NHS. From 1 October, it became compulsory for all GP practices in England to offer the online option for patients to request non-urgent appointments or medical advice throughout core working hours (8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday). The doctors' union might not have much liked it , but it made sense to regular punters like me.
‘What’s my life like away from rugby? Chaos’: Red Rose superstar Ellie Kildunne on confidence, cowboy dances and why it’s cool to be different
Ellie Kildunne says it’s not quite sunk in yet. A couple of months on from winning the Rugby Union World Cup with her England teammates, she’s still on a high. I ask if she slept with her winner’s medal by her bed the night they won. “That night?” She gives me a look. “It’s still by my bed. Every day. I wake up and the medal’s next to my bed. And it’s, like, as if!” But Kildunne is not resting on her laurels.
Women’s prisons report finds 97 deaths in decade as self-harm hits record high
Annelise Sanderson, 18, left and Kay Melhuish, 36, took their lives in prison after ‘serious failings’.Composite: Family Handout Over the past decade 97 women have died in prisons in England and Wales, as incidents of self-harm among female prisoners reach the highest level on record, a new report has found. Inquest, the charity that produced the report, collated Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures since 2015 to arrive at a total number of deaths.
‘It has made me live life more’: Jessie J on cancer, comebacks and cracking China
You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler having struggled to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is.
‘Possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history’: the inside story of the Medomsley scandal
When I met Kevin Young in 2012 he was in his early 50s, handsome, charismatic, smart – and utterly broken. The moment he started talking about Medomsley detention centre he was in tears. Young was born in Newcastle, in 1959. At two, he was taken into care, and his parents were convicted of wilful neglect. At eight, at a school in Devon, he was sexually abused by the gardener.
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