It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year without theatre. True, a few of us got to see outdoor shows in summer 2020, and few of us got to socially distanced indoor ones before they had to shut in December 2020. But the last time there was a full house in a theatre was…

There was a time when people in London used to look down on Vauxhall. Having one of London’s best bus interchanges wasn’t enough for the naysayers. But look at it now. Vauxhall is emerging as a hub of London’s post-Covid ‘night out’ recovery. There’s the huge Vauxhall beer garden under the railway arches, a bunch…

Let’s start with a statement of fact. Dolly Parton is wonderful. She may well be the nicest celebrity who ever lived. The absolute undisputed Queen of Country music, a businesswoman par excellence and a book sharing philanthropist. There’s no one quite like her. I’ve got some history with Dolly too after seeing her live on…

London’s railways stations are, for the most part, architectural wonders (I’ll gloss over Euston although they have just made the toilets free so it can’t be all bad). The rival Victorian railway companies came up with some absolute gems. Ornate ironwork, magnificent glass roofs, good solid brickwork and, in many cases, amazing underground vaults. For…

The first time I ever took a flight across the Atlantic was on a now-defunct airline. Not one of the famous, glamorous ones like Pan Am or TWA, but one I’d hardly heard of before or since called American Transair. So old and tired were their planes that they couldn’t make the flight from Manchester…

Given his status as one of our greatest national treasures, a new Alan Bennett play will always be An Event. They don’t happen that often these days, and this is the first new Bennett play for six years. Once again, Sir Nick Hytner is directing, and once again the show debuts on the South Bank.…

You can’t start talking about Hamilton without mentioning the hype. It is one of the most talked about events in the whole world of entertainment. It makes $3million a week in Broadway ticket sales, the soundtrack is beloved, the Obamas say it’s the best thing they’ve ever seen, and ‎Lin-Manuel is a future EGOT and national treasure.…

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Kevin Elyot could quite possibly be a national treasure now, had he not died three years ago. His plays are instantly accessible, entertainingly written and have lots of lovely wordplay. ‎His biggest hit, My Night With Reg, enjoyed several runs and was just about to return to the West End at the time he died. …