Your jaw tightens, your tongue tingles, and your cheeks pucker like you’ve downed a shot of vinegar. A first taste of sour beer often comes as a rather sharp shock. But it can soon prove addictive stuff: the perfect crisp, refreshing pint to sup in the sunshine. Continue reading “The beer for people who don’t like beer”
Category: Features
The cross-dressing gents of Victorian England
Had you been sitting in the Royal Strand Theatre one evening in April 1870, you might have noticed a giddy young woman in a low-cut cerise silk dress, larking around in a box before repairing to the ladies’ lavatory. If you had looked a little closer, you would have realised this was no lady after all: rather, a 22-year-old man by the name of Ernest Boulton. Or, to give her the name she preferred, Stella. Continue reading “The cross-dressing gents of Victorian England”
The joy of wearing my mother’s clothes
I am suffering from absent nest syndrome. Consider it the opposite of empty nest syndrome, when parents pine for their fledged offspring: my parents have moved out of my childhood home, and put their stuff in storage, and gone on a gap year. Continue reading “The joy of wearing my mother’s clothes”
Generation Boring? British teenagers are partying less
The series Fresh Meat returned to our screens recently – with the gang of Manchester students soon to graduate and face the real world. In the second episode, reluctant teen Luca is sent by his mum round to the flat share, to see how brilliant university life is. Continue reading “Generation Boring? British teenagers are partying less”
Why fainting is no laughing matter
It begins with feeling sick, then spreads. A rapid prickle of cold sweat, a swimmy light-headedness, a ringing in the ears. Stars twinkle before my eyes, and if I don’t get my head between my knees fast, darkness descends. Continue reading “Why fainting is no laughing matter”
When you love going out and your partner loves staying in
It was 9AM when I came through the door. I had started by meeting a friend for brunch the day before, then gone on to an afternoon pub session with some pals. That turned into a cheap Italian dinner out, followed a sweaty club night, all concluding with me catching the tube home on a misty, Autumn morning. Continue reading “When you love going out and your partner loves staying in”
The great hippie hijack: how consumerism devoured the counterculture dream
Might 2015 be the year the hippies finally won? Five decades since the emergence of the flower-power counterculture, the hippie dream has at last gone mainstream. Admittedly, peace and love haven’t quite saved the world, but when it comes to lifestyle, we’ve never been more right on (man). Continue reading “The great hippie hijack: how consumerism devoured the counterculture dream”
Mildreds and Vanilla Black give vegetarian food a makeover
Being a vegetarian is no longer a big deal, with many of us somewhere on the spectrum: cutting out red meat, being veggie during the week, going vegan for health reasons. But many restaurants and gastropubs have yet to catch up, all too often offering the same old mushroom risotto or goat’s cheese tart. Continue reading “Mildreds and Vanilla Black give vegetarian food a makeover”
Gizzi Erskine is taking on the ‘clean eating’ fanatics
“People don’t know how to eat any more.” It’s a bold statement – but, then, that’s typical of Gizzi Erskine. The food writer, TV presenter and trained chef doesn’t mince her words. She credits this tendency for being a bit “gobby” as having helped launch her career more than a decade ago, when she was picked up for Channel 4’s Cook Yourself Thin TV series. Several hit recipe books followed, all with the basic premise that good food, cooked well, can be healthy and delicious. Continue reading “Gizzi Erskine is taking on the ‘clean eating’ fanatics”
Why I’m Over Audrey Hepburn as a Female Icon
If anyone deserves to have a show at the National Portrait Gallery dedicated to photographs of their face, it’s beautiful, doe-eyed Audrey Hepburn, right? If anyone deserves to have their exhibition subtitled ‘Portraits of an Icon’, it’s Audrey Hepburn, right? She has become an icon: evoked in fashion editorials for her ‘timeless’ and ‘classic’ style; that Breakfast at Tiffany’s poster a student halls cliche; her gamine presence even posthumously inserted into adverts for chocolate. This show of 150 pictures of her neat, sweet face, her pretty pastel frocks and signature Little Black Dresses is bound to be a ticket-shifter. Continue reading “Why I’m Over Audrey Hepburn as a Female Icon”