I signed up for a marathon on Sunday. Not the marathon, of course – entries didn’t open until until Monday. Instead I put my name down for a trail race taking place this autumn. But it was the London Marathon, or more specifically, BBC’s coverage of the event, that inspired me.
For Paula Radcliffe it was never about the victory, but more akin to a lap of honour on the streets of London that she had once made her own.
Harper Lee has rescued a production of her classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird after a dispute threatened to end performances of the play in the author’s hometown.
A controversial play about the shooting of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown will still be going ahead tonight despite the departure of half of the cast, according to the show’s director.
The greatest female marathon runner in Great British history Paula Radcliffe bid an emotional goodbye to the London Marathon by posting a time of 2:36.55.
Tom Sturridge is an actor who’s so far been better known for his relationships with his fiancée, Sienna Miller, and his best friend, Robert Pattinson, than for his own acting CV, but that could all change this week with two high-profile projects. He’s starring in a new film version of Thomas Hardy’s classic, Far from the Madding Crowd, as Sergeant Frank Troy, the love interest of Carey Mulligan’s Bathsheba, and he’s also playing opposite Damian Lewis and John Goodman in the new revival of David Mamet’s play American Buffalo. Читать дальше...
Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge has won the elite men's race at the Virgin Money London Marathon on the day Paula Radcliffe bowed out of competitive sport.
Once upon a time, the opponents of immigration complained that the subject was discussed too little. That seems like another age. Two elections ago, the Conservatives fought a campaign in which immigration was a big theme, with the questionable slogan “Are you thinking what we’re thinking?”. Since the last election, the rise of the UK Independence Party and David Cameron’s promise of a referendum on our membership of the European Union have ensured that immigration and the free movement of EU... Читать дальше...
For some, the idea of running 26 miles and 385 yards in the company of 37,000 or so fellow athletes isn’t quite challenging enough. For them, a marathon isn’t really a marathon unless they’re tied to another runner, for example, or dressed as a gorilla. This year’s London Marathon will see many running for charity, to earn a place in the record books, or both. Indeed, the event has netted more than £700m since 1981. Here are five of this year’s extreme charity runners.
The arts aren't an add-on We have a real problem with the double squeeze of Arts Council cuts and local authority cuts. Ultimately the problems in today's society – truancy, crime, ill health, fundamentalism – are things that a well-funded arts sector can be part of a solution to. How is it possible to become a fundamentalist? By not seeing things from another's point of view. Well, that's what art lets you do.
