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Lionel Shriver: 'I had to get to grips with death'

The latest novel from the author of We Need To Talk About Kevin was inspired by the terminal illness of a friend who refused to accept that she was dying

Rufus Wainwright: 'Our family is a battered ship...'

Back with an album, a tour and an opera, the Canadian singer reveals how a series of births and deaths forced him to grow up

Tamsin Greig: 'I think I'm a little bit odd'

When it comes to acting work, Tamsin Greig admits that the phone has never stopped ringing. So why does she still feel inadequate?

John Lydon: 'I'm not a leader, bully or dictator'

Agitator, innovator, naturist: more than thirty years after crashing into the public sphere, John Lydon is still as hard to define as ever

Malcolm McLaren: 'I'm most probably a missing link'

The Sex Pistols supremo who helped to revolutionise popular culture in the Seventies wants to be recognised as a serious artist

Poliakoff: 'Original work takes arrogance'

The director's latest film is set at the beginning of the Second World War, a period inextricably linked with his own family history

Rupert Penry-Jones: 'It's nice not to be chasing a bad guy'

Rupert Penry-Jones is grateful to be TV's most famous spy, and with a play set to open, he isn't worried about being typecast

Akram Khan: 'You have to become a warrior'

He's the darling of the dance world, and beyond, with artists such as Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley lining up to work with him

Clare Higgins: 'I was a bit of an odd child'

An epiphany at the Royal Shakespeare Company led the award-winning actress first to misbehaviour, and then stardom

Jonathan Miller: 'Some things I've done are as deep as you get'

The term 'Renaissance man' could have been invented for him. So why, after a long and illustrious career, is Jonathan Miller so gloomy?

Dylan Moran: 'I am a bit of a bumbling man, as you can tell..."

Despite his trademark moroseness, it seems that Dylan Moran may not be quite the crank he's cracked himself up to be

Robert Harris: A writer close to the power elite

Robert Harris may have friends in high places – but that doesn't mean that the sharpness of his writing is blunted by compromise

Roberto Alagna: 'Opera was my secret love'

His life story is as colourful and tear-jerking as any of the roles he's sung. So will the heart-throb tenor ever find serenity?

John Simm: 'I don't mean to seem cocky'

He's known as the star of television dramas 'Life on Mars' and 'Dr Who'. Now the actor is returning to the West End stage

David McVicar: 'I'm good because I care so much'

He's opera's bad boy with a reputation for bloody stagings and tantrums, but the world-renowned director is a big softie at heart
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Day In a Page

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Ridley Scott: The most macho man in movies?

His cinematic CV is unparalleled. Yet the Alien director is still obsessed with beating his rivals.
Being Gary Lineker: The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport

Being Gary Lineker

The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport...
Gallic gourmets are putting French cuisine back on the culinary map

Gallic gourmets put France back on culinary map

Overdone, out of touch and old-fashioned: French cuisine has never been at a lower ebb...
So Moorish: Mark Hix offers his own take on classic Moroccan dishes

So Moorish: Mark Hix's Moroccan dishes

Why not create a north African-inspired feast to share with your friends?
Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood

Sin and the single mother

Maureen Paton explores the history of lone parenthood.
The outsider: Margaret Howell is British fashion's queen of minimalism

The outsider: Margaret Howell

The designer tells Susannah Frankel why she has never felt part of the fashion industry.
The 50 Best luggage

The 50 Best luggage

From chic cases to compact baggage, pack it all in this summer
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years