There are seven big buds on my peony "Sarah Bernhardt". I've just counted them. I've been waiting several whole summers for this. And you do wait a long time for peonies. You can occasionally find yourself feeling like the End Times will approach and the Sun and the Moon and the stars will all go dim before the peonies get themselves going. Here come the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse! Oh well, that's very inconvenient timing, because my "Bowl of Beauty" just decided to open.

ENO's new production of Berg's 1925 opera draws parallels with servicemen's lives in Afghanistan

With his shock of curly blonde hair and cherubic smile little Johnny Hill stood out from the crowds of holidaymakers on Blackpool's promenade in the summer of 1924.

Start-up donations spurred on by Independent article earlier this year

Broadcasters and politicians criticised senior BBC executives for refusing to give interviews in response to the evidence uncovered in the Pollard report transcripts.

There is remarkable accord between two new biographies of this prodigious composer who was, by necessity, an outsider

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has refused to release footage for a major new documentary about Benjamin Britten because the composer was a pacifist and a “deserter”, an award-winning film-maker has claimed.

Ingredients to serve 4-6

Life on Marsden

A bid to crowd-fund an eaterie where people can enjoy tea and cuddles with cats is gathering momentum

'Poached nashi pears with bitter almonds are a great way to fend off winter colds'

Night in

Night in

Daryl Mitchell, the Worcestershire captain, carried his bat through a completed innings for the second time in his career as his side fought desperately for points in the only Championship cricket in the country yesterday.