£97,000 worth of fun July 13, 2010 THE reason that Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage is so well-loved is all to do with a little valve in the exhaust system. Around town and driving normally, the V8 Vantage delivers the usual Aston Martin contemplative serenity, but under full acceleration the V8 Vantage makes the most fantastically hellish noise as the valve opens up. [...]
CAR TALK July 13, 2010 RENAULT’S BRAVE NEW WORLD This is Renault’s latest concept car, a two-seat sports coupe called DeZir. It’s the first car created under new design chief Laurens van den Acker and it’s a stunner. Proving electric cars can be exciting, the prominent grille and the ripple effect on its flanks – if not the asymmetrical scissor [...]
OUT OF OFFICE July 13, 2010 DON’T MISS: HOFESH SHECHTER DANCE Hofesh Shechter made a huge splash in the UK with Uprising in 2007. Now he takes the first full length piece since Uprising, called Political Mother, on tour. The 10-dancer show brims with Shechter’s “emotional and gritty complexity, powerful percussive grooves and a raw and honest physicality” and is accompanied [...]
How to be a water baby July 12, 2010 YOU never regret a swim,” the saying goes, and anyone who swims regularly will concur. It’s the ultimate summer workout – you can huff and puff outdoors without breaking a sweat. But if you want to work out in the water, you’re going to have to resist the temptation to just splash and paddle. You [...]
FIVE OF THE BEST OUTDOOR POOLS July 12, 2010 HAMPSTEAD HEATH SWIMMING PONDS, NW5 1QR Unlike anything else in London, the Hampstead Heath ponds are three distinct oases of nature and calm just a few kilometres from the centre of the world’s largest cities. Swim amid the lilies, willows and assorted plant life in one of three ponds that date back to 1860: one [...]
CELLULITE-BUSTERS: WE REVIEW TWO July 12, 2010 CELLUTOX AROMA SPA OCEAN WRAP After booking a last minute summer break, I had one week to get myself bikini-ready. Although I upped my gym-going, I quickly realised that nature would need a hand. A buff, a scrub and a seaweed wrap were called for, so the Cellutox sounded fantastic. After the buffing, a delicious [...]
A superb Ambassadeur’s reception July 12, 2010 The Milroy 5 Hamilton Place, W1J 7ED, Tel: 020 7317 6108 Cost per person without wine: £40 THOSE accustomed to the opulence of Les Ambassadeurs, the exclusive London casino, may not be blown away by the Milroy, its in-house restaurant. But now that it has opened to the public for lunch, those of us for [...]
TASTING NOTES July 12, 2010 IN his current book describing London’s early Victorian gambling scene, Gentlemen & Blackguards, author Nicholas Foulkes points out that Crockford’s, then the most famous and exclusive gaming club in town, was as known for its fine food as it was for relieving aristos or their fortunes. As with The Milroy (see above), that’s still the [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS July 12, 2010 LARDER OF LONDON REOPENS For a foodie city, one thing London is shamefully short of is quality food markets. Anyone who’s had enough of fighting their way through the Borough Market hoards can now instead fight their way through the West End hoards each Saturday at the newly-launched Foodlovers Market in Soho, once reputed as [...]
A new port of call far north of the Algarve July 11, 2010 IF you’re thinking of getting away to Portugal this summer, chances are it’s the Algarve you’re considering, for a bit of sea, sardines or the swing of a golf club. Well fine, the country’s southern region does all those things extremely well. However, British holidaymakers tend to forget what the rest of the country has [...]