Cultural Life: Barbara Taylor Bradford, novelist
Friday 22 February 2013
Books
I have just re-read Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. I enjoyed it even more the second time around. I seem to be addicted to history and just read Killing Lincoln (The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever) by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard. I found the second historical nonfiction by O'Reilly & Dugard: Killing Kennedy (The End of Camelot) very moving. I wept at the end because of the utter senselessness of JFK's untimely death.
Films
I went to a private screening of Lincoln. My husband and I staggered out, having been swept away by the film. We felt we'd been in the presence of President Lincoln himself, so extraordinary was Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. I found Les Miserables slightly too long. Hugh Jackman made up for that.
Music
I am a huge fan of Kiri Te Kanawa and particularly love her renditions of Verdi and Puccini. I always enjoy the three tenors Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti.
Television
When I'm not watching news programmes, I just can't resist Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey. I love country-house family sagas. I guess that's why I write them.
Barbara Taylor Bradford's novel 'Secrets from the Past' is published by HarperCollins on 28 February
Arts & Ents blogs
The Fall ‘Darkness Visible’ – Series 1, episode 2
There is a good many moments in the second episode of this psychological thriller that deserve refle...
‘Vicious’ – Series 1, episode 4
The opening titles squeal ‘Never Can Say Goodbye…’. Oh Lord how I wish I could heave this series off...
Game of Thrones ‘Second Sons’ – Season 3, episode 8
Even though there was a complete absence of our favourite odd couple Brienne and Jaime, we got anoth...
-
This is the end... Keyboard player of The Doors Ray Manzarek dies of cancer aged 74
-
'He was lucky he didn't die' - George Michael fell out of speeding car onto M1 motorway, according to eye witness
-
Coronation Street triumphs over EastEnders at British Soap Awards 2013
-
School-gate mums: Is 2013's Fifty Shades a novel by Gill Hornby called The Hive?
-
Arrested Development returns but can the new episodes on Netflix capture the show's deadpan glory days?
- 1 'He was lucky he didn't die' - George Michael fell out of speeding car onto M1 motorway, according to eye witness
- 2 Austerity has hardened the nation's heart
- 3 Gay couple beaten in park urge MPs to moderate language on gay marriage
- 4 X marks the spot: The find that could rewrite Australian history
- 5 'It was just like the movie Twister': Man survives Oklahoma tornado by taking refuge in horse stall
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Visit York
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Why clubs are keen to take a stand
In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City


Comments