Brian Viner

Brian Viner swapped London for the Herefordshire countryside, and his column ‘Country Life’ documents his attempts to chase the rural idyll. Chiefly a sports writer, he pens a weekly sports column and interview for the paper. He is the author of 'Ali, Pele, Lillee and Me: A Personal Odyssey Through the Sporting Seventies'.

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Divided: Snooker or gardening?

Green baize takes on the green-fingered

Brian Viner bravely enters the snooker vs gardening row, and explains to the mystified why he is mesmerised

So innocent those days growing up in front of the telly. Or maybe not ...

For my generation these revelations are not  just sickening, they are disorientating

Webber fumes after Vettel steals win in controversial end to Malaysian GP

Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and how we learnt that only the flag is black and white in Formula One

We have the spectacle of a man lambasted by his team for winning a race

The studio from which the first programme was broadcast in 1960

BBC Television Centre: Farewell to the dream factory

It gave us Basil Fawlty, Del Boy, the Daleks, and Eric & Ernie – though not, necessarily, in that order. Now, after more than 50 years, BBC TV is to quit its Wood Lane base

Mersey beat: Ken Grant captured the spirit of Liverpool as it coped with two decades of distress

The photographer chronicled the turmoil in the north west in the 1980s and 1990s.

Laura Davies: 'Right now, my only thought on the first tee at the start of a tournament is winning'

Laura Davies: She has still got drive despite tour transformation

Britain's four-times major winner is just shy of turning 50 and has seen the world of women's golf change dramatically – yet her desire is as fierce as ever, she tells Brian Viner

Don’t call me Everyman: Martin Freeman ‘finds a sort of poetry in the ordinary man’, says writer Steven Moffat; inset, as Bilbo Baggins

Martin Freeman: No ordinary Bilbo Baggins

From ‘The Office’ in Slough to Middle-earth, he finds a heroism in everyday decency

Mary Berry: Flour power

Baking is having a big moment – for which one of TV's unlikeliest stars takes a lot of the credit

Nick Faldo shaking hands with Tom Watson after his singles victory in 1977

Nick Faldo: 'Sure, I would have done it differently'

Exclusive: Nick Faldo, who predicts a tie at Medinah, made mistakes as captain four years ago but was also held back by unexpected events, he tells Brian Viner

The US captain, Davis Love III, still enjoys the adrenalin rush

Ryder Cup: Tough Davis Love up for fight after life studded with tragedies

American captain says the loss of his father in a plane crash has made him more determined

Day In a Page

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'

Masculinity in crisis?

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'
Have US shock jocks gone too far?

Have US shock jocks gone too far?

An incendiary remark from Rush Limbaugh may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters
The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey pays more income tax than big cities of the North

The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey

Elmbridge pays more income tax than big cities of the North
Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies

Michael Landy's artistic marriage made in heaven... and hell
'He will always be a friend': Jackie Stewart backs Polanski

'He will always be a friend'

Jackie Stewart backs Roman Polanski
The price of pacifism: Refusing to go to war is finally being recognised as a brave act

The price of pacifism

From the Second World War refusenik to the 19-year-old Israeli, Holly Williams talks to five people who risked shame and suffering to take a stand as conscientious objector.
'It was mass hysteria': Jason Isaacs on groupies, theatre bores and snogging James Bond

Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond

To millions, Jason Isaacs is one of Harry Potter's arch enemies – but his wife prefers him as a Scottish TV detective.
Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?

Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?

Thomas Hodgkinson spent a week at the tiny platform off the Suffolk coast to find out.
Not a bad bone: Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

If you ignore cutlets and ribs, you'll risk missing out on some delicious and easy meals, says our chef.
The experts' guide to summer: From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz

The experts' guide to summer

From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz
Sex, drugs and fast cars: The legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Early glimpses of Ron Howard's film Rush suggest it will portray Hunt as a high-living lothario, with an insatiable appetite for partying.
Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation when using drugs and alcohol. It was hurting my life'

Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation'

The next Vanilla Ice or the next Eminem? Macklemore doesn't have a record contract – but he does have the UK's biggest-selling single of the year.
Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Sri Lankan cuisine is light, sunny, wonderfully spiced – and so easy to cook from scratch. Just as soon as you've broken into the coconut, that is.
Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Doctors are hailing the revamp of a Bath neonatal unit, where babies sleep more and feed better, as the model for patient care
One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

Epecuen was submerged under 10 metres of water in 1985. Now the floods have gone – and 83-year-old Pablo Novak has moved back in