YouTube video by BBC Northern Ireland

Visitors to Nostell in West Yorkshire will get to see cutting-edge research into work considered the only faithful copy of Holbein masterpiece A spectacular, internationally important painting of Thomas More and his family is to have its secrets explored as the public look on. The open heritage science project, scheduled to begin on Thursday, is a UK first and will deploy techniques used at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam during its famous public restoration of Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch. Continue reading...

Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…

In 1926, Henry Ford gave his employees both Saturdays and Sundays off – and the two-day chunk of time to party, pray or simply do nothing was born. Now it’s changed beyond recognition

I don’t do this often but please indulge a multi-paragraph essayette on this one. The BBC played some dangerous games with pastiche and parody in this period, as a generation of writers, directors and...

Podcast by Adam Batty and BBC 6 Music DJ Afrodeutsche follows the leads to Leeds

A new book and podcast tell the story of a 1 in 12, a venue that used community and artistic passion as bulwarks against poverty and grim politics. Its founders and key acts recall gigs, plays and pra...

A new book and podcast tell the story of a 1 in 12, a venue that used community and artistic passion as bulwarks against poverty and grim politics. Its founders and key acts recall gigs, plays and pra...

Little is taught about the murderous, incompetent dictatorship – and now almost one in five young people say Franco was good for the country, says historian Giles Tremlett

Events to mark the 50th anniversary of dictator’s death are intended to remind Spaniards, particularly the young, of the dangers of fascism

Woman told to remove or cover up garment featuring 1908 illustration of Pan lest it offend worshippers The Wind in the Willows is one of the most beloved books of British children’s literature, but while most people think of the jolly adventures of Toad, Mole and Rat, Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 story has a darker side. And it was a step too far for the Beadle security guards at Westminster Abbey, who told a visitor wearing a sweatshirt with an illustration from the book that she had to take it off because it was “an image of the devil”. Continue reading...