The Sunday Telegraph London back issues from November 2001:
Sexual heeling Manolo Blahnik's latest stilettos are so lethal that he has decided not to sell them. The thought of such sexual weaponry, says Rebecca Tyrrel, is enough to make admirers of high heels swoon. But who loves them more, men or women?
Nov 04, 2001; ... Sarah Jessica Parker, the American actress who is the star of Sexand the City, once said: "I feel honoured that I will be able totell my grandchildren, `I met Manolo Blahnik, and I owned some ofhis shoes.' " There are many women who feel this way about Mr Blahnik and theshoes he ...
It was no joke being thin The author and comedienne Jenny Eclair writes for the first time about how, as a teenage anorexic, she very nearly lost her sense of humour
Nov 04, 2001; ... I've always been a late developer - periods at 15, driving licence at 28. I didn't becomeanorexic until I was 19. By nature I'm a greedy girl. As a child my favourite part of theday was school dinners. I particularly liked "banana splodge" - athin, jam-smeared pastry case ...
Churchill, the PM who loved war
Nov 04, 2001; ... When I first picked up Roy Jenkins's new biography of Winston Churchill, I did anunforgivable thing. I decided not to read it, but to sample it. If Istarted at page 1 and persevered until page 912, I would have notime to read Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, or ...
Call me a pompous arse . . . Stephen Bayley cares so much about design that he walked out on the Dome, fell out with Terence Conran, and thinks nothing is more important than a lemon squeezer. How seriously does he take himself?
Nov 04, 2001; ... Stephen Bayley is drinking Chardonnay out of what looks to melike a perfectly ordinary wine glass. But this is not any old wineglass. It is, according to Bayley, the best wine glass available:the absolute acme of taste and perfection. "There is, in the world of wine glasses, a ...
The men who define courage As Remembrance Sunday approaches, three heroes of the Second World War tell David Thomas that, despite England's 'pathetic' stay-at-home cricketers, today's young men are just as brave as they were
Nov 04, 2001; ... Ian Fraser and Stuart Archer are retired gentlemen in theireighties. Fraser is a short, fit-looking individual, tanned byregular rounds of golf, whose hearing-aid is the only indicationthat he is 81. Archer, however, is five years older, and his tall frame issomewhat frailer. He ...
If you want to live longer, start praying
Nov 04, 2001; ... It is a curious irony that nuns, who have the least reason tofear death, and who may even actively yearn to be admitted to God'spresence, should live longer than any other group in society. Theirremarkable longevity has, in recent years, made them the subject ofscientific scrutiny by ...
Man of the perfect moment Henri Cartier-Bresson, the world's greatest photographer, likes to talk of anarchism, Zen, geometry and sex - anything but his art, collected in a remarkable new book. In a rare interview, he tells Martin Gayford why
Nov 04, 2001; ... `For me," observes Henri Cartier-Bresson, "England is the mostexotic place in the world: the British manners, the stratificationof society. You see it even in people's shoes. You never had arevolution, or rather, you had it too soon. I find Londonincomprehensible, though I was brought up ...
Epic nationalism, ghostly intimacy Music
Nov 04, 2001; ... War and Peace LSO/Jansons Halle/Caetani Curlew River Prokofiev's War and Peace has been part of ENO folklore sinceColin Graham's 1972 production. I did not see that ground-breakingstaging, but the memory of the Kirov's at Covent Garden last year isgreen. That ...
A diamond show Theatre
Nov 04, 2001; ... Kiss Me, Kate The Royal Family Star Quality Michael Blakemore's revival of Kiss Me, Kate, which opened onBroadway two years ago, is now installed at the Victoria Palace. Itoffers the most entertaining evening in town; and under currentcircumstances it is hard not to ...
Old art gets a face-lift Art
Nov 04, 2001; ... Tate Britain and ExposedThe Victorian Nude The Tate Britain Centenary Development has been well received inthe press; and there are certainly several features which can bewarmly welcomed. For example, the introduction of a second entrance. Sixty per cent of visitors arrive by ...
Thrill to the sounds of silence Matt Rogalsky has compiled 24 CDs recording the gaps between the words on Radio 4. But can this waste matter of the airwaves be described as art? asks William Langley
Nov 04, 2001; ... A worrying noise is coming from Matt Rogalsky's laptop computer.The kind mine makes when one of the kids puts a Bath Oliver into thefloppy-disc drive. Schrurrrzz, schrummph, schrisssh, it goes. Anyonewho didn't know this was art would be straight on the phone to thetechnical support ...
Horror without grossness Cinema
Nov 04, 2001; ... The Others Gabriel and Me New Year's Day This Filthy Earth The Animal Which film genre currently commands the least respect? Many wouldagree it's the scary movie, and especially its unappetising sub-genre, the haunted-house thriller. Quite rightly so: ...
A harmless old ballet killed stone dead Dance
Nov 04, 2001; ... Don Quixote Oh dear. Ross Stretton's directorship of the Royal Ballet has gotoff to a very depressing start. His plans for the 2001/2002 CoventGarden season were always a bit suspect, with an alarming emphasison full-evening ballets, but we were all looking forward to DonQuixote, ...
Less sex please Television
Nov 04, 2001; ... I seem to have gone off sex rather. Whereas in the past I hadtended to take a Gordon Brownish attitude towards the whole business- generally speaking in favour of entry, but only if the conditionsare right - now I find myself taking a far more Ann Widdecombeystance; yielding to no one in ...
Honourably puerile Radio
Nov 04, 2001; ... I'm sure there were lots of good and interesting things on radiolast week but I'm afraid I was forced to miss them. That's because,in a spirit of self-sacrifice even more noble than the one that ledme to endure non-stop Radio 2 a few months back, I have been attempting to answer ...
Writers should be read and not heard John Preston, a fan, is disappointed by this collection of Philip Roth's literary interviews
Nov 04, 2001; ... Shop Talk: A Writer and his Colleagues and their Work by Philip Roth Jonathan Cape, pounds 15.99, 160 pp pounds 13.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 THIS SLENDER , overpriced volume consists of a number ofinterviews Philip Roth conducted with ...
The Prince's trouble and strife Saul David on the clandestine marriage that could have spelt disaster for the monarchy
Nov 04, 2001; ... Maria Fitzherbert: The Secret Wife of George IV by James Munson Constable, pounds 20, 414 pp pounds 17 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 THE SECRET marriage in 1785 between the future George IV and MrsFitzherbert, a twice-widowed Catholic, is generally ...
High art and high treason Noel Malcolm wonders how far Anthony Blunt's careers as art historian and spy shared the same roots
Nov 04, 2001; ... Anthony Blunt: His Lives by Miranda Carter Macmillan, pounds 20, 590 pp pounds 17 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 WHAT WOULD you do if one of your oldest friends, or your mostrevered teachers, were suddenly exposed as a traitor? Would you cutoff all contact ...
Paperbacks
Nov 04, 2001; ... Prince Charming: A Memoir by Christopher Logue Faber, pounds 9.99 THE TITLE is ironic. Christopher Logue takes up much of his storyconfessing his past sins and personal inadequacies, while admiringthe good qualities of his friends. Those friends have ...
Was I marvellous, darling?
Nov 04, 2001; ... Me Me Me by David Huggins Faber, pounds 10.99, 223 pp pounds 9.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 AS THE SON AND grandson of actors (Anna and Raymond Massey), thethriller-writer David Huggins was perhaps fated to turn hisattention to the world of luvvie-dom ....
A vicious sort of Auntie
Nov 04, 2001; ... Going Out Live or Are They the Same at Home? by Mark Lawson Picador, pounds 15.99, 260 pp pounds 13.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 MARK LAWSON is the well-known presenter of review programmes onboth radio and television, which guarantees the accuracy of ...
Selfless defence Julia Flynn hopes that these tales do not herald the demise of Rumpole
Nov 04, 2001; ... Rumpole Rests His Case by John Mortimer Viking, pounds 16.99, 210 pp pounds 14.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 THERE IS an awkward moment in Rumpole Rests His Case. Ten Afghanasylum-seekers are detained at Dover harbour. They are hiding in acargo of ...
Age on a knife edge Kathy Lette can write as well as pun, says David Robson
Nov 04, 2001; ... Nip'n'Tuck by Kathy Lette Picador, pounds 14.99, 255 pp pounds 12.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 ARE KATHY LETTE 's publishers selling her short? The cover ofNip'n'Tuck is so garish, the promise that this satire on cosmeticsurgery will "have you in ...
The man who fluffs his lines Amanda Mitchison is not surprised that the journalist Toby Young failed to conquer America
Nov 04, 2001; ... How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young Little, Brown, pounds 9.99, 344 pp pounds 8.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 IN 1995 THE bumptious young bar-fly and journalist Toby Young wasoffered a temporary job on Vanity Fair magazine in New York ....
Victorian values revamped John Gross on a diverting but unreliable guide to the Victorian age
Nov 04, 2001; ... Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet Faber, pounds 16.99, 264 pp pounds 14.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 MATTHEW SWEET thinks that we have got the Victorians all wrong.If we are liberal, we almost certainly assume that they were stodgy,straitlaced, ...
It's their kind of town too Rats that take the subway, coyotes in shopping malls - Jonathan Bate on the animal inhabitants of New York city
Nov 04, 2001; ... Wild Nights: The Nature of New York City by Anne Matthews Flamingo, pounds 14.99, 207 pp pounds 12.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 A DOZEN pairs of peregrine falcons nest high on the skyscrapersand bridges of Manhattan. Migrating monarch ...
We were what we ate This history lacks seasoning, finds Ben Rogers
Nov 04, 2001; ... Food: A History by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Macmillan, pounds 20, 287 pp pounds 17 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 AT THE BEGINNING of this book, the historian, journalist andbroadcaster Felipe Fernandez-Armesto suggests that "Food historyremains relatively ...
Another fine mess Laurel and Hardy's lives were as fraught off- screen as on, finds Alan Stanbrook
Nov 04, 2001; ... Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy by Simon Louvish Faber, pounds 25, 518 pp pounds 22 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 BETWEEN THEM they made more than 440 films and became asinseparable in the public mind as Morecambe and Wise, yet Hollywoodnever valued ...
How Becks scored with Julie Russell Davies is appalled by Julie Burchill's paean to David Beckham
Nov 04, 2001; ... Burchill on Beckham by Julie Burchill Yellow Jersey Press, pounds 10, 121 pp pounds 9 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 THIS TINY book is being touted as the "dazzling" output of "thesharpest social commentator in Britain". Poor bloody Britain, theplace where ...
The literary life
Nov 04, 2001; ... THIS AUTUMN numerous television personalities have had theirautobiographies published: Anne Robinson, Jim Davidson, Rolf Harrisand the comedian Frank Skinner have all invited the public to readabout their private lives. However, appearing on the small screen isno guarantee of publishing ...
Women's on-the-shelf life Spinsters had an unfair press in the past, finds Kate Chisholm, yet their achievements have been many
Nov 04, 2001; ... Women Alone: Spinsters in England 1660-1850 by Bridget Hill Yale, pounds 25, 219 pp pounds 22 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 THE SINGLE Unmarried Female has been denigrated throughout theages, portrayed crabbily as a dumpy woman with withered cheeks, ...
A load of oddballs Nicholas Bagnall on a rather eccentric collection of eccentrics
Nov 04, 2001; ... Eccentrics by John Jolliffe Duckworth, pounds 18, 184 pp pounds 15 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 ECCENTRICITY has no easy definition, because although eccentricsare different from us they are all different from each other aswell. John Jolliffe has chosen 15 ...
The triumph of Mrs Magoo Jessica Mann enjoys - and admires - this memoir by the near-blind creator of Adrian Mole
Nov 04, 2001; ... The Public Confessions of a Middle-aged Woman Aged 55 3/4 by Sue Townsend Michael Joseph, pounds 14.99, 354 pp pounds 12.99 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222 SUE TOWNSEND hates people to say she is brave. As she wrote inSightlines (a collection of new writing in ...
The last laugh For years they were the butt of jokes. Now, as the prime property market stumbles, the likes of Southend and Slough, Luton and Milton Keynes are coming into their own, says Ross Clark
Nov 04, 2001; ... There are good addresses, bad addresses, and places which mightas well have been invented for the music hall. From Skegness toNeasden, and from Frinton to Chipping Sodbury, sometimes it is easyto explain why somewhere provokes sniggers, sometimes it is not. Buteither way, in the past ...
How the mighty have fallen
Nov 04, 2001; ... To call Battersea "South Chelsea" is typical of the desperatemeasures vain homeowners take in order to claim a posh address. Butin the current climate it is an ill-advised move: the smarter your address, theless well your property investment is performing. While prices fell ...
If it's tricky, auction it An auction can be a good way to sell unusual properties quickly. Be prepared for some spectacular results, says Mary Wilson
Nov 04, 2001; ... With the market showing definite signs of a slow-down,"difficult" properties - those which need considerablerefurbishment, or are tricky to sell because they are unusual -often do better at auction than by braving the chill winds of theopen market. While run-down semis and unwanted ...
Is it really that rotten? On the level - A builder who gives it to you straight
Nov 04, 2001; ... During the Second World War there was a public informationcampaign to prevent waste and save scarce natural resources. Insteadof throwing away old clothes or household appliances and buying newones, people were urged to "make do and mend". We could do with a bit of that philosophy ...
Ask Jeff
Nov 04, 2001; ... Plaster stains The previous owners of our flat burned incense sticks and oils,staining the walls and ceiling, which are papered and painted withmatt emulsion. How can we clean the surfaces before freshening themup with more emulsion? We would rather not re-paper if it can be ...
Poison pipes
Nov 04, 2001; ... I read with concern your reply to a letter headed "Lead menace"(Sept 30). My house was built in 1936 and I understand the mainswater supply into the house is by a lead pipe, and that it is myresponsibility to replace it. In view of what you say about lead inpaint, is there not a similar ...
The backless wonder
Nov 04, 2001; ... For "period house", you do not have to read "dark and gloomy" -particularly if an architect has been skilful with a scalpel. Thishouse in Bedford Row, Bloomsbury, has early 18th-century credentialsand Grade II* architectural features; yet once you have passedthrough the period drama, it ...
New FSA table reveals scandal of extortionate pension charges
Nov 04, 2001; ... INVESTORS in the most expensive pension plans pay a staggeringpounds 60,000 more in charges than the cheapest plans. This figure, one of the principal findings of the FinancialServices Authority's new pensions league tables, due to be publishedthis Thursday, applies to consumers ...
Drawdown incomes set to take a tumble
Nov 04, 2001; ... THOUSANDS of pensioners with income drawdown plans face savagecuts to their annual income in the wake of the plunging stockmarketsand low gilt yields. Those who opted to take the maximum amount of income from theirpension fund in the three years since 1998 could suffer ...
AA opens retirement planning helpline
Nov 04, 2001; ... THE AA is setting up a free telephone-based advice service onretirement planning. A team of qualified financial advisers will be available to talkabout retirement issues, ranging from pension planning, annuitiesand equity release schemes to income and inheritance tax ...
Ramadan marks launch of first pension plan for Muslims
Nov 04, 2001; ... THE FIRST-ever pension plan suitable for British Muslims is to belaunched later this month by Parsoli, an Indian financial servicescompany. The Islamic Sipp (self-invested personal pension), which complieswith the strict criteria on investment products laid down by theKoran and ...
Barclays is biggest victim of transfer war Confidential research shows the bank has been hit by a current account exodus
Nov 04, 2001; ... BARCLAYS Bank is the biggest loser in the current accounttransfer war, according to confidential figures leaked to The SundayTelegraph. The independent research, carried out by Mori and not intendedfor public release, shows many more people are closing Barclayscurrent accounts ...
Green Whistles up a new venture
Nov 04, 2001; ... PHILIP Green, the retail tycoon who owns Bhs, is taking a stakein Whistles, the upmarket women's fashion chain founded by Richardand Lucille Lewin in 1976. The Lewins are selling their remaining 50per cent holding to Green and Richard Caring, a Whistles boarddirector who already owns the ...
BT set for more restructuring
Nov 04, 2001; ... BT IS set to revive proposals for another restructuring, which isexpected to result in the sale or demerger of its retail andwholesale arms. The group has said officially that plans to split the companyfurther have been shelved but The Sunday Telegraph can reveal thatsenior ...
Harry Potter drama school to float
Nov 04, 2001; ... THE DRAMA school that trained Emma Watson, who stars as HermioneGranger in the film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stonewhich premiers today in London, is to float with a value of up topounds 14m. Watson is one of 19,000 students who attend the schools run byStagecoach ...
Ex-Sky chief hired for ITV Digital review
Nov 04, 2001; ... DAVID Chance, the former deputy chief executive of BSkyB, hasbeen called in to carry out a strategic review of ITV Digital toanswer growing investor calls for the loss-making pay TV service tobe sold or scrapped. Chance, who is already a non-executive director of Granada, hasbeen ...
Punch plots pubs mega merger Texas Pacific in talks with rival to create pounds 5.5bn group and control one in eight of Britain's hostelries
Nov 04, 2001; ... PUNCH Group, the 5,100-strong pubs company, has begun talks overa pounds 5.5bn double merger with Laurel, the pubs group owned byMorgan Grenfell Private Equity (MGPE) with 2,500 sites, in a dealthat would create a dual business controlling one in eight of thecountry's bars and dwarf the ...
Ignore the experts - don't let easyJet take you for a ride
Nov 04, 2001; ... Despite the gloomy outlook, the capitalist spirit is provingresilient. Or does the surge of interest in easyJet show howinvestors need to beware of the lemming tendency? A flurry of brokers' "Buy" notes appeared last week after easyJetannounced an 82 per cent rise in pre-tax profit ...
Equitable victims don't have time for these reports
Nov 04, 2001; ... AT LAST. After months and months of first stating categoricallythat there was no way the Government would consider payingcompensation to Equitable Life victims, and then asking Lord Penrose(who has no powers to award compensation) to carry out a fullinvestigation, ministers have finally ...
ScotPower's water sale falls through
Nov 04, 2001; ... SCOTTISH Power has failed to conclude the pounds 1.7bn sale ofSouthern Water to Centrica, the supply arm of the former British Gasempire, because of disagreement on price. The Scottish group, which wants at least pounds 1.7bn for thewater business, had hoped to announce the deal ...
Kenmare digs for $230m funding
Nov 04, 2001; ... KENMARE Resources, the minerals group quoted in London andDublin, is launching a $230m fundraising to develop its titaniummine in Mozambique. The Moma deposit stretches for 120km along theMozambique coast and is Kenmare's main asset. Titanium is used in applications ranging from ...
Dexterus sold as Bain backs out
Nov 04, 2001; ... DEXTERUS, the technology company launched earlier this year by agroup of former ICL directors, has been sold for an undisclosed sumafter its main backer - Bain & Co. - decided it could no longer fundthe business. Investors led by Bain, the Boston-based financial andconsultancy group, had ...
Hampton joins Miller
Nov 04, 2001; ... HAMPTON Trust, the small property company, is expected toannounce later this month that it has signed a joint ventureagreement with Miller Group, the Edinburgh-based developmentcompany, to rebuild the centre of Birmingham in a pounds 450mdevelopment. The scheme, known as Arena ...
Schroders to shed Sirona
Nov 04, 2001; ... SCHRODER Ventures, the private equity firm, has put Sirona, aformer division of the Siemens group, up for sale in a move thatsome have interpreted as the beginning of a retreat from the Germanmarket. The firm is said to have appointed UBS Warburg to find a buyerfor the business, ...
Prescott pal wins pounds 1bn deal
Nov 04, 2001; ... A PROPERTY development in London's Docklands - worth pounds 1bn -has been awarded to a former special adviser to John Prescott, thedeputy prime minister. David Taylor is heading a consortium of Kajima, the JapaneseAmerican construction group, and Norwich Union's property fund ....
New Millennium Resources to list on Aim
Nov 04, 2001; ... NEW Millennium Resources, a private Western Australian miningcompany, is to float on Aim at the end of this month to develop itshi-tech niobium project in Greenland. It will be capitalised ataround pounds 20m. The company intends to develop a small mine based on a high-grade ...
Insurance is fine... as long as you don't claim Last week's expose of swingeing premium and excess increases has opened the floodgates. Liz Dolan uncovers more horror stories
Nov 04, 2001; ... INSURERS like to run comforting advertisements promising peace ofmind to those who take out their policies. What they don't say isthat policyholders who have the temerity to claim on their policiesare quite likely to be penalised with a steep premium increase onrenewal. Worse, ...
Brit Insurance to raise pounds 100m
Nov 04, 2001; ... BRIT Insurance Holdings, the listed specialist insurance andreinsurance group, is planning to raise up to a pounds 100m in newfunds in a bid to cash in on a dramatic surge in insurance ratesfollowing the terrorist attacks on America. The company is understood to be planning to ...
Farmer determined to buy back Kwik Fit
Nov 04, 2001; ... SIR Tom Farmer, founder and chairman of Kwik Fit, is consideringbuying the tyre and exhausts group from Ford, the motor group whichacquired it two years ago for more than pounds 1bn. Farmer has told friends he decided to sell Kwik Fit to Ford afterJac Nasser was promoted to chief ...
Coats to shed pounds 200m Jaeger and Viyella
Nov 04, 2001; ... COATS, the threads and clothing group, is poised to appointadvisers to sell its fashion retail division, which owns the Jaegerand Viyella fashion brands, for up to pounds 200m. Between them, Jaeger and Viyella operate from 450 outlets across15 countries. In the year to December ...
Float values Vanco at pounds 50m
Nov 04, 2001; ... VANCO, one of the largest privately owned telecoms operators inthe UK, will defy the stockmarket gloom this week and float with avaluation of over pounds 50m. The telecoms company is the first company to list on the mainmarket since Friends Provident made its market debut in ...
Texas Pacific joins Body Shop race
Nov 04, 2001; ... TEXAS Pacific Group, the US venture capital firm which owns BallyShoes and a 70 per cent stake in Punch Taverns, has entered the racefor Body Shop, the troubled health and beauty chain. The US venture capital firm - which is being advised by GoldmanSachs, the investment bank, and ...