The nature of murals and wall sculptures ordinarily meant that the work of art was forever tied to its original location

I'm in the Ardèche for a holiday with family and assorted friends. I haven't worn shoes for 10 days and am growing a beard that is turning out to be unnervingly grey. All is good … well almost all.

Private collection

'It is important to have your own space. In it, I try to be honest'

The Angel & Blue Pig, Lymington

The company who sold the Banksy mural "Slave Labour" have prompted further outcry after a second well-loved artwork was removed from a north London wall yesterday to be put up for auction commercially.

The largest exhibition about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 opens in Buckingham Palace tomorrow.

Lyons teashops were the Starbucks of their day. In the aftermath of war, the management of the restaurant chain (the last one closed its doors in 1981) was faced with a pressing challenge: how to enliven dingy and often war-scarred interiors up and down the country without spending a fortune.

After many, many hours of televised twaddle, we have a new Prince. 8lbs, 6 ounces. All new babies are, as Nancy Mitford so rightly pointed out, ‘deep down among the frills and lace,’ little more than, ‘a howling orange in a fine black wig’. Even little Princes who arrive third in line to the throne heralded by the clammy, effusive trumpetings of Nicholas Witchell and the excitable questioning by Kay Burley of excited people about just how excited they are.

This has been such a busy few days of sport that they are all starting to melt into one another, and the heatwave is not helping the levels of concentration.

Here Nicholas Tucker picks out the best volumes for the weeks ahead

Private collection

A man has lost his battle to prevent family heirlooms, including a painting by Lucien Pissarro worth up to £30,000, from being seized to fund his father’s care.

Traces of canvas, paint and nails found in oven of suspect in multi-million pound art heist