Find your way to Mayfair’s secret gardens August 13, 2009 THINK of Mayfair and you probably don’t think of greenery. Sure, there’s tidy old Grosvenor Square for you to spread out in at lunchtime on a sunny day, or the island of grass at the centre of bustling Berkeley Square. There’s even Hyde Park once you take your life in your hands and fight your [...]
FOCUS ON: ALONG THE CROSSRAIL ROUTE August 13, 2009 DUNDEE WHARF, 100 THREE COLT STREET, E14Price: £1.2mThis eighth-floor apartment is within walking distance of Canary Wharf and has panoramic views over the Thames and the city skyline. The arrival of Crossrail will make it ideal for those who commute in to the City and Mayfair. But unlike some Docklands’ bachelor pads, it comes with [...]
Work out in the comfort of home August 13, 2009 FOR all but those who like the sweaty equipment and tortured grunts that characterise the communal fitness centre, the home gym is the ultimate luxury. Rolling out of bed for a cup of coffee, straight into your gym kit and onto the machines has got to be heaven on a stick from the point of [...]
Weepie that fails the test of time August 13, 2009 FilmThe Time Traveler’s wifeCert: 12A BASED on the best-selling and much-loved novel by Audrey Niffenegger, this film has its work cut out from the start. How do you depict a serious love story in which the man has a genetic condition that makes him visibly slide around in time? How do you show the same [...]
NOW SHOWING SIX OF THE BEST August 13, 2009 THEATRE: Troilus and Cressida Matthew Dunster’s production at Shakespeare’s Globe features a standout turn from Matthew Kelly. FILM: Mesrine Killer Instinct Part one of the gangster biopic is one of the best French films in years. Can’t wait for part two. ART: Jeff Koons The world’s most expensive artist amuses at the Serpentine. ART: David [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND PREVIEWS August 13, 2009 FILMTHE PERFECT GETAWAY Psycho hriller with Milla Jovovich. IMAGINE THAT Eddie Murphy kids comedy. Yuck.ALIENS IN THE ATTIC Kids comedy along Gremlins lines. DVD90210 COMPLETE FIRST SEASON Whither Jason Priestley? HOTEL BABYLON SERIES 4 Inexplicably popular BBC rubbish.HIGH HEELS Pedro Almodovar’s early 90s classic. MUSICCALVIN HARRIS Scottish dance dude gets Ready for the Weeekend. THE [...]
Breaking the Speedo limit August 13, 2009 HATS off to Alton Towers for banning Speedos. If only the same spirit had been present in the pools and beaches I frequented as a child on holiday with my family. The now-famous French swimming pool Speedo-only rule was a memorable feature of our trips abroad – there were even times when my father rocked [...]
The cut-throat world of New York’s super-rich August 12, 2009 HEDGE FUND WIVESBY TATIANA BONCOMPAGNIHarper Collins, £6.99 IT may sound a little out of date – after all, we’re so over hedgies and their failed fortunes. Except the New York hedge fund world, including its cut-throat circle of wives, still holds more interest than you’d think. This is not the first tale of high finance [...]
Nice ice baby August 12, 2009 ICE cream never used to be a gourmet dinner’s crowning glory. Yet London has become a capital for the stuff – from street vendors to high gastronomy. Take Michel Roux at Michelin-starred Le Gavroche, who makes all his ice cream fresh daily – this week that includes fresh mint and peanut butter. Or Justin Saunders [...]
Spas for the mind are the new cure-all August 10, 2009 NOT long ago I found myself lying on a Freudian-looking couch in a small, neat room. Rather than a psychoanalyst sitting by my head with a clock and a contemplative expression, there was a lithe young woman at my feet, skimming over my bare soles with her fingers, asking me in a soft voice about [...]