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How We Met: George Galloway MP & Matt Forde

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

George Galloway, 58

Reginald D Hunter: The controversial comedian on sex, 'Star Trek' and why he moved to Britain

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

I moved to England after having a gun held to my face I was in a situation with an old high-school buddy back in Georgia in the US, playing cards and gambling. He was on crack and he caught me cheating. That thing they say about your life flashing before your eyes – it's true. I'd always wanted to see England and I promised myself that, if I got out of that situation, I'd go. I was mad, too, that I'd got busted by a crackhead!

Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

Sun, 04 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Wilko Johnson is one of the world's most famous guitarists you've never heard of. His idiosyncratic choppy playing style is credited with influencing a legion of punk guitarists. To a generation born long after punk, Wilko might be better remembered as the executioner in the TV series Game of Thrones. TV stardom or a life of rock'n'roll seems far away as he sits cross-legged on his sofa at home in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. Now 66, Johnson grew up a mere stone's throw away, on Canvey Island in the Thames estuary: a flat, densely populated land mass surrounded by creeks and marshland, famously dominated by a colossal oil refinery, a rich source of inspiration for songs he wrote while guitarist in Canvey's cult heroes Dr Feelgood.

'I love what I do': Justin Fletcher's Mr Tumble shows have won him Baftas, famous fans and an MBE

Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

"I see myself as a bit of a pre-school Mr Bean," says Justin Fletcher, discussing his alter ego, Mr Tumble, a clown who uses sign language for children with speech difficulties on the Bafta-winning TV show Something Special. And if you've never heard of Fletcher, Something Special or Mr Tumble then it's also likely that you haven't reared a young child in recent years. For by dint of hard work, seemingly boundless enthusiasm and a fertile imagination, Fletcher has become the undisputed king of pre-school television, while his wide and varied charitable work has earnt him an MBE.

The Conversation: Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich on love stories, Tina Fey and Twitter

Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

You're so young, and you've achieved so much – how's that working out?

John Humphrys: He's started so he'll finish

Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The time will come when John Humphrys no longer needs to set his three alarm clocks for 3.59am, when he can stand down the loyal taxi drivers who transport him through pre-dawn London streets to the studio, and when the focus of his working day is not an 8.10am confrontation with a senior politician.

Arnaud Bamberger: Haute horlogerie

Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Most people who buy Cartier items pay tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds for the elegance and craftsmanship in a watch or piece of jewellery. But many Chinese government officials received them in return for favours. And as the story of Chinese corruption unravels, it is becoming clear how these very expensive brands were used as bribes.

Ikechi Anya: Watford's wonder winger is not your everyday player

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 22:33:37 +0100

"I'm not your average footballer," says Ikechi Anya, with some understatement. The Watford wing-back was referring to his choice of summer holiday destination this year – Tokyo rather than Ibiza – but this goes deeper than that.

Maisah Sobaihi: Heard the one about the Saudi woman at the Edinburgh Fringe?

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 19:16:34 +0100

A female Saudi academic will become the first person from the Arab country to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – in a play designed to smash Western pre-conceptions.

David Weir interview: Ready to cut his teeth in the Steel City at Sheffield United

Fri, 02 Aug 2013 01:00:29 +0100

There was a time during his playing days at Everton when David Weir's phone would regularly ring late at night. On the other end would be Paul Gascoigne, his Goodison team-mate then caught up in a craze for the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? computer game, who saw Weir – with his US college degree in advertising and PR – as the ideal friend to phone.

Steven Gerrard interview: All hail Liverpool's captain fantastic

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 01:00:40 +0100

Steven Gerrard will walk out the tunnel at Anfield on Saturday afternoon as he has done so many times before, although – even taking into account the dramatic highs, and occasional lows, of his career at Liverpool – he admits that this occasion will be especially emotional.

Michael Owen: Hooked on the horses

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 23:17:54 +0100

If Brown Panther should win the Goodwood Cup – and there is a decent chance that he will – then it will not afford his 33-year-old, multimillionaire owner the biggest thrill of a sporting life that has already encompassed two late goals in the FA Cup final to overturn a 1-0 deficit, the winner in a Manchester derby, a hat-trick against Germany in Munich and, of course, one of the greatest individual goals ever scored in the World Cup.

Inbee Park: A walk in the park at the British Open?

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 23:17:54 +0100

It made a beautiful shot, the poster girl of American golf set before the iconic clubhouse of St Andrews. Attention is nothing new to Paula Creamer, a woman who might have trade-marked the colour pink. But on this occasion the meat of the questions were not about her. Grand glam gave way to Grand Slam. Inbee or not Inbee?

JK Rowling wins 'substantial donation' to charity from law firm behind Robert Galbraith confidentiality leak

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 16:59:27 +0100

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has accepted a "substantial donation to charity" from the law firm that breached her confidentiality by revealing that she was writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Barney Francis interview: Sky Sports spices up football service to keep BT Sport at bay

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:00:13 +0100

It will be the biggest challenge of Jamie Redknapp's broadcasting career: some 200 football fans packed around him in a brand-new television studio as he tries to question Premier League managers around the country on why they have just won, lost or drawn. What could possibly go wrong?

Sir Bruce Keogh: Raising quality, reducing costs... why running the NHS is like selling PCs

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:16:46 +0100

Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, has just completed a forensic report into 14 underperforming hospitals which is already hailed as the cure for many of the health service’s well-publicised ills. The next thing on his to-do list is a long-awaited review into the small matter of Britain’s A&E crisis.

How we met: Hilary Devey & Greg James

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Greg James, 27

Lucky man: Legendary hit-maker Nile Rodgers on disco, drugs and Daft Punk

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

In his 61 years, Nile Rodgers has endured more than his fair share of trauma. There were his mother and stepfather, both heroin-addicted and given to nodding off mid-sentence; the teenage homelessness that led him to sleep on subway trains; his own addictions to alcohol and cocaine, which prompted his heart to stop eight times; and, most recently, a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Yet only once has he ever wondered whether life was worth living.

Benedict Wong: 'I'm the go-to guy for victims of torture'

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

If the name draws a blank, then it's safe to bet the parts Benedict Wong has played will be a little more familiar. Or perhaps I should say the types of parts. Gangster? Check. Waiter? Check. Enemies of the Chinese state? Check, check, check.

Jose Mourinho: 'You have to praise the guys who play at their limits, they give everything. They are not superstars' - Chelsea manager has warning for club's 'special ones'

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Jose Mourinho is sitting at a table in an open room at the top of the Keraton hotel in Jakarta (five stars, lots of security) and looking out as a tropical wind howls around the skyscrapers of the city. For the last 12 days he has worked his players hard – double sessions in the heat of three South-east Asian countries – and the scope of his squad is becoming clear to him.

Oscar Garcia: Even Pep Guardiola had to start somewhere

Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Tony Bloom, the chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion, is a successful high-stakes poker player. So if his appointment of the relatively inexperienced former Barcelona midfielder Oscar Garcia as the Seagulls' new head coach is a gamble, the odds will have been carefully calculated.

'Most people still see me as a bit of a lad': David Baddiel returns to stand-up comedy

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

David Baddiel can remember the precise moment that he gave up stand-up comedy. It was Christmas 2003 and he had been paid £14,000 to entertain an audience of boozed-up bankers. The gig was a bad-tempered affair, and when one heckler bellowed "Why don't you just piss off?", Baddiel couldn't think of a good reason not to. "Performing is very stressful," he says now, on the eve of what's been billed as his stand-up comeback. "When I was doing Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned [his show with Frank Skinner in which they'd take questions from the audience], the stress was just ridiculous."

Wonga's Errol Damelin profile: Hey big (payday) lender

Fri, 26 Jul 2013 23:02:08 +0100

Errol Damelin “will be hating this”. So says a friend of the crop-haired founder of Wonga, currently sitting in the eye of the biggest God vs Mammon moral storm this country has seen since the financial crisis.

'I really don't care': After THAT Twitter scandal, actor Alec Baldwin discusses fatherhood, working with Woody Allen and being in the public eye

Mon, 22 Jul 2013 10:00:00 +0100

There's something about Alec Baldwin that's tremendously imposing. He's broad-shouldered and muscular – but it's not that. Nor is it his ice-blue eyes. Maybe it's the roles he plays, typified by his unforgettable cameo in Glengarry Glen Ross, as the bullish real-estate maestro telling his cowering agents to, "ABC – Always Be Closing". Or, more likely, it's the threat of his infamously volcanic temper, which erupts with entertaining frequency.

Andy Parfitt: ‘Radio 1 shouldn’t be locked into this idea that it’s just a station’

Sun, 21 Jul 2013 17:51:58 +0100

Andy Parfitt enjoyed some golden years at Radio 1. When he started as station controller in 1998 there were predictions the audience might collapse to 4 million as youth radio became less relevant – by the time he left, two years ago, the network was enjoying all-time record ratings of nearly 12.8 million.

How we met: Marcus Brigstocke & Bill Dare

Sun, 21 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Bill Dare, 53

Tamara Rojo: The ballet-dancer-turned-artistic-director on her burst appendix, the Bolshoi acid attack and elitism

Sun, 21 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

I was hooked on ballet from an early age I was five, watching a class all dressed in pale-pink led by a thin, beautiful teacher dressed in burgundy. She was so different from the other teachers at my school, who were nuns. My parents didn't want me to do ballet, so I insisted until they gave up: I used crying and all the manipulative tricks little kids have.

Is Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley the best boss in the world?

Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:00:34 +0100

At Christmas, Mike Ashley puts up so many lights on the house he owns in the north London billionaire’s strip of Totteridge Lane that you could possibly see it from outer space. Not to mention the fact that it’s got 33 rooms and would set you back about £20m if you fancied buying it.

King B: Larry Cohen's outrageous films were never going to win Oscars - and that's the way he likes it

Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

'Less money, more freedom!" has long been the mantra of film-makers working in the B-movie arena. Yes, the critics will sneer at them. No, they're not going to win Academy Awards. The pay-off is the chance to be subversive, innovative and experimental.

Nicolas Cage: 'I'm not going to blame gun violence that happens in America on movies'

Fri, 19 Jul 2013 11:12:34 +0100

Nicolas Cage can’t seem to escape the debate over the link between movies and real life murders. In his new film, Scott Walker’s The Frozen Ground, Cage plays a detective pursing serial killer Robert Hansen, who over 12 years abducted and killed at least 17 women.

Alleged police smear victim Mohammed Amran: ‘I want to know what they said about me’

Sun, 14 Jul 2013 23:11:07 +0100

For someone who had such an inauspicious start to life in Britain, Mohammed “Manny” Amran possesses an eye-catching certificate collection. He arrived in Bradford with his parents from Pakistan at the age of four and failed his exams so profoundly at the Drummond Middle School that he still recalls his dismayed father declaring in Punjabi: “Too kyah rehay heh?” (what have you done?).

How we met: Professor Robert Winston & Fern Britton