The Sunday Telegraph London back issues from January 2004:
The 44-Hour Day
Jan 04, 2004; ... It's 4am, I've been up for 20 hours, but I don't feel tired. I'mnot at a wild party, nor rocking a wailing infant, nor am I lyingmiserably in bed cursing my insomnia. I am sitting at my desk payingmy bills on the internet as if it were mid-afternoon. There is noneof the usual roar of ...
The scrapheap king goes back into battle Colonel Dick loves to construct improbable military contraptions - and then shoot them down or blow them up. Andrew Martin finds out what makes television's most engaging new boffin tick
Jan 04, 2004; ... Dick Strawbridge, an amiable whirlwind, is giving me a tour ofsome of his favourite debris: "Those are bits of ballast for aJapanese balloon bomb we made. This is the residue of our man-lifting kite. Oh, and that's our sun cannon. It takes the sun'slight, shines it onto a parabolic ...
Is anyone ruder than the Swiss?
Jan 04, 2004; ... Pigtailed Heidi, with her milk-maid frock and squidgy dimples, isa marketing con. Think of Switzerland and one of the few images isprobably of orphan Heidi, the wet little heroine of Johanna Spyri's19th-century novel. We accept that stereotype of clog-footedsweetness. Snap off a chunk of ...
Happier than he looks Ricky Tomlinson was a plasterer with a prison record. Now, as a celebrated comedy actor, he is starring in a new television series. So what went right?
Jan 04, 2004; ... Ricky Tomlinson is 5ft 8in and reported to weigh 17 stone - whichhe says is inaccurate. "I wish I was 17 stone. But I've gone up tobloody 18." He blames the increase on "old-fashioned" Englishbreakfasts, but gives the impression that he is not perturbed by it.After an hour in Tomlinson's ...
The joy a new kidney brings Six months ago his six-year-old son was near death for want of an organ donor. Robert Gore-Langton offers thanks to the family who gave Hal 'the gift of life' - and wishes more people would resolve to do the same
Jan 04, 2004; ... When a kidney recently went up for sale with eBay, the onlineauctioneers, the vendor's advertisement read: "You can choose eitherkidney. Buyer pays all transplant and medical costs. Of course onlyone [is] for sale, as I need the other one to live." The reserve was$25,000. EBay spotted ...
Forget the gym - what we need is mental fitness
Jan 04, 2004; ... One New Year tradition I have always forgone is joining the long,winding conga that leads up to the admissions desk at the local gym.Even at my most porcine, I have never seen the need to pay a fortuneto run miles on a treadmill. Of course, there is proven medicalbenefit in having a ...
The shapes of things to come Andrew Graham-Dixon, in his first review as this paper's art critic, relishes an unknown and wonderful collection of sculptors' first thoughts
Jan 04, 2004; ... A common accusation levelled against contemporary art is that toomuch of it lacks the genuine impress of a maker's hand, being eitherprefabricated or manufactured to order by studio assistants. This is,in fact, an age-old complaint. Sir Joshua Reynolds and other portraitpainters of the ...
The music that's all around us On the eve of a festival celebrating the work of John Cage, king of experimental composers, Michael White remembers the man who claimed that 'Everything we do is music' - even silence
Jan 04, 2004; ... It was 95 degrees and mid-town Manhattan was stewing. At StThomas's 5th Avenue, where I'd spent the morning, the Rector hadgiven thanks before God and his congregation for an efficientventilator system. And in a loft conversion on West 18th Street thebenignly grizzled figure of John Cage ...
A view from the other side
Jan 04, 2004; ... Kiss of Life (12) Peter Mullan either plays saints in need of a wash (My Name isJoe, Young Adam) or rotters in spotless suits (The Claim, TheMagdalene Sisters). Just one glimpse of his fingernails in theopening scene of Kiss of Life, and you can tell he's playing theformer type - ...
A life of quiet, angry desperation Cinema
Jan 04, 2004; ... American Splendor Stuck On You The opening scene of American Splendor (15) shows a small, surlyboy slouching through the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, muttering "Whydoes everybody have to be so stoopid?" This is our introduction toHarvey Pekar, real-life grouch and comic-book ...
Sit. royal and vacant Who should be offered the post of Master of the Queen's Music, empty now for nine months? And why can't the Master be a Mistress, asks Michael Kennedy
Jan 04, 2004; ... Either Her Majesty or the Prime Minister is taking a long time tocome to a decision on who shall succeed the late Malcolm Williamsonas Master of the Queen's Music (he died on March 2, 2003). It is astrange post, carrying an honorarium and no fixed duties and itoriginated in the reign of ...
Just out of reach Television
Jan 04, 2004; ... Ten years ago I went to interview Alec Guinness, subject of - andthis should come as no great surprise - Arena: Alec Guinness, ASecret Man (Monday, BBC2). He didn't give many interviews and I wasmore than usually nervous beforehand. However, he proved to beremarkably friendly and we ...
BBC, law enforcer Radio
Jan 04, 2004; ... We cannot have too many audience polls. Or can we? What do youthink? You decide. Vote now by . . . Or, rather, don't, please don't.We have already had too many audience polls. Under the guise ofgenerously involving all listeners and viewers in a thoroughlydemocratic sort of way, they ...
Oomph with bite Theatre
Jan 04, 2004; ... Call Me Merman Kat and the Kings Dick Barton: Special Agent There are two Zimmermans who have made their mark in the annals ofAmerican popular song. One, a fancy fellow, changed his name toDylan. The other was called Ethel, and in her own words she ...
Triumph of thrift and ingenuity Dance
Jan 04, 2004; ... Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet's Nutcracker RB's Cinderella Every year thousands and thousands of Home Counties ballet-goersflock to the Royal Festival Hall to see a production of TheNutcracker. Any production of The Nutcracker. For nearly half acentury it was English ...
To be beside the Arctic seaside Mark Sanderson on the perseverance of a pioneering explorer in the North American wilderness
Jan 04, 2004; ... Ancient Mariner: The Amazing Adventures of Samuel Hearne, The Englishman Who WalkedTo The Arctic Ocean by Ken McGoogan Bantam Press, pounds 16.99, 334 pp pounds 14.99 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 SAMUEL HEARNE' s main claim to fame is that he was ...
The humorist without the humour James Thurber saved his jolly side for his cartoons and stories but not for his letters, finds John Preston
Jan 04, 2004; ... The Thurber Letters ed by Harrison Kinney Simon & Schuster, pounds 25, 798 pp pounds 23 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 WHO READS James Thurber nowadays? Hardly anyone on this side ofthe Atlantic, I would guess, although his name did edge awkwardlyback into ...
The future is a dangerous place From Delphi to Macbeth to The Matrix, oracles and their prophecies have been difficult to interpret, says Noel Malcolm
Jan 04, 2004; ... The Road to Delphi: The Life and Afterlife of Oracles by Michael Wood Chatto & Windus, pounds 17.99, 271 pp pounds 15.99 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 SOON AFTER September 11, 2001, a prophecy by Nostradamus began tocirculate on the ...
The queen ruled by others Traitor to some, martyr to others - John Adamson on the extraordinary life of Mary Queen of Scots
Jan 04, 2004; ... My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots by John Guy Fourth Estate, pounds 20, 574 pp pounds 18 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 WHEN MARY Queen of Scots was executed in 1587, she died almostuniversally reviled: a failure as Queen of Scotland; an ...
Britain, the wild frontier Life was hard at the empire's edge, finds Peter Jones, in this latest study of the biggest-ever haul of Roman letters
Jan 04, 2004; ... Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and its People by Alan K. Bowman British Museum Press, pounds 12.99, 179 pp pounds 11.99 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 IN MARCH 1973 Robin Birley was excavating at the site of the Romanfort of Vindolanda, on ...
Paperbacks
Jan 04, 2004; ... Pevsner on Art and Architecture by Nikolaus Pevsner ed by Stephen Games Methuen, pounds 12.99 THESE broadcast talks were given by Pevsner between 1945 and 1977,including the famous Reith Lectures on the Englishness of EnglishArt. Stephen Games's introduction ...
Moved to tears Which book, poem or play has made you cry more than any other? Continuing our series, the author and critic Jonathan Bate chooses Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth
Jan 04, 2004; ... PARADOXICALLY , the book that makes me cry has laughter in itstitle: Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Like Henry James, Whartonhas a wonderful gift of revealing the inner life of her characterswhile also documenting the elegance and hypocrisy of high society.Lily Bart, the novel's ...
A poet's animal kingdom John Gross hopes that this collection of Marianne Moore's unusual poetry will help attract new readers
Jan 04, 2004; ... The Poems of Marianne Moore ed by Grace Schulman Faber, pounds 30, 449 pp pounds 26 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 MARIANNE MOORE was one of the finest American poets of the 20thcentury. In her later years - she died in 1972 - she became anational ...
Black as the driven Snow
Jan 04, 2004; ... Valaida by Candace Allen Virago, pounds 14.99, 504 pp pounds 12.99 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 VALAIDA SNOW was the first black woman to succeed as a jazzmusician. She played the solo trumpet, performing not only at home inthe US, but also in London, Paris, ...
Union of comfort and terror This family saga, like all Anne Tyler's novels, is much more than the sum of its parts, says Caroline Moore
Jan 04, 2004; ... The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler Chatto & Windus, pounds 16.99, 306 pp pounds 14.99 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222 FOR ANNE TYLER aficionados, it will be enough to say that this isclassic Tyler country. Marriage, indeed, is Tyler's emotional hometerritory: ...
Coming to a bookshop near you David Robson looks forward to some of the most enticing books to be published in 2004
Jan 04, 2004; ... IF 2003 WAS hijacked by brash new talents, bursting unannounced onto the literary scene, 2004 will probably see the pendulum swing theother way. High hopes are riding on three first novels: JonathanStrange and Mr Norrall by Susanna Clarke (October, Bloomsbury),Sleeping With the Fishes by ...
Opening this week The LSO centenary celebrations
Jan 04, 2004; ... A hundred years ago in June the London Symphony Orchestra gave itsfirst concert. It was formed in rebellion against Henry Wood (readall about it in Richard Morrison's excellent new history Orchestra,published by Faber). Celebrations begin on Saturday at the Barbicanwhen the orchestra's ...
Classical CDs
Jan 04, 2004; ... Beethoven Piano sonatas Kovacevich (EMI Classics 5 62700 2, 9 CDs,pounds 49.99). Stephen Kovacevich began to record the 32 Beethovensonatas 12 years ago and they are all now available in this handsomeset. If you want one pianist for the complete cycle, Kovacevich is awise choice, for he ...
Rock CDs
Jan 04, 2004; ... British Sea Power The Decline of British Sea Power (Rough Trade,pounds 10.99.). Here's one I neglected to review earlier, largelybecause on first listen I found it so overwhelmingly urgent, loud,nervy and strange that I just couldn't cope with it. Now, of course,I realise that this ...
Dance
Jan 04, 2004; ... English National Ballet Hammersmith Apollo, London W6 0870 1602832, to Jan 11: A host of splendid principal dancers do their bestin Christopher Hampson's Nutcracker with lurid designs by thecartoonist Gerald Scarfe. Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet Royal Festival Hall, London SE1, ...
DVDs
Jan 04, 2004; ... No End (Artificial Eye, 15, DVD only pounds 19.99). Made byPoland's Krysztof Kieslowski in 1984 but banned for two years, thisfilm had the courage, under Communism, to hint that politics mightnot be the country's salvation. Try love and you're half way downKieslowski's ...
Theatre
Jan 04, 2004; ... Why the Whales Came Comedy 020 7369 1731, closes Wed. A young boyand girl are growing up on Bryher, in the Scillies, just before theFirst World War. They ignore a warning not to speak to the island'sresident outcast, who tells them about a curse hanging over an islandnearby . . . Adapted ...
Concerts
Jan 04, 2004; ... St John's, Smith Square 020 7222 1061, today, 7.30pm: Handel'sMessiah is given a candlelit performance by the Apollo CO & Choir,with soloists Lorna Anderson, Joanna Campion, Richard Edgar-Wilsonand Jonathan Gunthorpe; David Chernaik conducts. Thur, 7.30pm: the London Strings under ...
Cinema
Jan 04, 2004; ... Cold Mountain (15). Anthony Minghella's film adaptation of CharlesFrazier's acclaimed American Civil War novel is an unashamed epic:boldly executed and hauntingly shot. Jude Law plays Inman, adeserting confederate soldier on a long, dangerous odyssey back tohis love, Ada (Nicole Kidman) ...
Rock
Jan 04, 2004; ... Ty. Since emerging with his breezy debut album Awkward three yearsago, this London MC has offered a refreshing alternative to US-rapdominance as a lesser-known kingpin of British hip hop. London CamdenJazz Cafe Fri, 020 7344 0044. The Tweenies. Furry BBC creatures who play pop for ...
Opera
Jan 04, 2004; ... Royal Opera 020 7304 4000. Sir Thomas Allen and Felicity Palmer inNeil Armfield's production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (Tue, Fri)conducted by Paul Gemignani. Barbican 0845 120 7500, Sat, 7pm: Britten's Peter Grimes withGlenn ...
Art
Jan 04, 2004; ... A Brush with Grandeur - Philip Alexius de Laszlo. Christie's,London SW1, 020 7389 2978, Wed to Jan 22. Laszlo was one of the most successful court painters in 1890sEurope. This show - the first since the artist's death in 1937 -features more than 90 oils includes portraits of ...
Owners without the onus If you've ever dreamt of buying your own retreat but were wary of the responsibility, 'seasonal ownership' could be the answer. Catherine Moye reports
Jan 04, 2004; ... As an aphorism, "An Englishman's seasonal ownership is his castle"lacks panache, but the idea of buying a few weeks a year in your veryown glamorous house is soaring in popularity. Seasonal ownership is much more than just "up-market timeshare",according to the distinguished hotels ...
So what does 2004 have in store for house prices?
Jan 04, 2004; ... Bradford & Bingley estate agents House-price inflation will rise between 5 and 7 per cent. Gary Verity, the managing director, says:"Barring unexpected world events, it is difficult to foresee ahousing downturn over the next 12 months. The market will remainbuoyant, with ...
Plant tips
Jan 04, 2004 ... ANOTHER WINTER BLOOMER is Viburnum x bodnantense, which has prettypuffs of tubular pale to dark-pink flowers on bare black branches butwhose scent is almost too pungent for my liking. It can be left togrow naturally, where it can spread to 10ft high and wide, or clippedinto disciplined ...
Creaking floors Ask Jeff
Jan 04, 2004; ... My house is 40 years old and is one of approximately 100 built bya reputable building firm. Please could you suggest a possibletreatment for creaking floors? DF, Edinburgh Jeff replies Creaking timber floors are a bane of modern housing.If the floors are constructed from ...
Leaving lights on to deter burglars is a dim idea
Jan 04, 2004; ... In one of his films, Woody Allen famously rebuked his parents forhaving only a 40-watt bulb in their anti-burglar security light. Ifthey were too mean to keep a brighter light burning in their absence,he said, then they deserved to be burgled. These days many of us have lights ...
Urban Gardener Winter blooms
Jan 04, 2004; ... This is the time of year when I fantasise about having the sort ofgarden where I could wander and pick armfuls of branches bearingscented winter blooms. These are not the sort of flowers you find atthe florist's, though you do occasionally see bundles of almondblossom, covered in buds as ...
Gloves off in Big Food's fight for Londis
Jan 04, 2004; ... BILL GRIMSEY, the chief executive of Big Food Group, has lashedout at Musgrave, its main rival in the bidding battle for Londis, theconvenience store group. BFG is also stepping up its charm offensivein an attempt to win support from Londis shareholders for its pounds40.3m indicative ...
Tesco's latest price reductions give Boots a big headache
Jan 04, 2004; ... TESCO, Britain's largest supermarket group, will tomorrow turn upthe competitive heat on Boots with the launch of a pounds 70m price-cutting campaign. The average price reduction of 8 per cent will affect more than600 products and will focus on popular health and beauty ...
UK faces 'wrong kind of growth'
Jan 04, 2004; ... THE UK economy will grow by 2.8 per cent in 2004, according to theErnst & Young ITEM Club, which uses the Treasury's forecasting model. This is slightly below the Treasury's own prediction of 3 to 3.5per cent. But it will be the "wrong kind of growth", according toITEM's chairman, ...
BA draws up plans for an extra pounds 500m in cost savings
Jan 04, 2004; ... BRITISH AIRWAYS, the UK flag-carrying airline whose transatlanticflights have been disrupted by security concerns, is to cut costs bya further pounds 500m a year. The cuts - which are bound to involve further reductions in BA's45,000 headcount - will be the main feature of the ...
Bank of America talked up Parmalat's bonds SEC turns its attention to the role of US banks in the financing of the collapsed Italian milk giant
Jan 04, 2004; ... BANK OF AMERICA, one of the world's largest banks, said that"patient" holders of more than $1bn ( pounds 559m) of Parmalat bondswould be "well rewarded", just two months before the disgracedItalian milk conglomerate was on the brink of bankruptcy. On October 6, Banc of America ...
Shares have further to go, says Bolton
Jan 04, 2004; ... THE STOCKMARKET rally will continue this year, according toAnthony Bolton, the highly regarded fund manager at Fidelity. Bolton's prediction will come as welcome news to investorswondering whether the stock market will fall back after nine monthsof steady gains. The FTSE100 index ...
Bank customers beat a path to the doors of HBoS
Jan 04, 2004; ... MORE people are switching their current accounts to HBoS than toany other high street bank, according to industry figures seen by TheSunday Telegraph. Last year, 22 per cent of those switching accounts went to HBoS.This compared with 13 per cent to Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, ...
Labour MP wants inquiry into pension closures
Jan 04, 2004; ... DEREK WYATT, the Labour MP for Sittingbourne & Sheppey, is callingfor an inquiry by a senior judge into how an estimated 200 pensionschemes have been wound up in deficit, leaving 40,000 people withlittle or no pension. The call comes at a time of further uncertainty about the ...
Christmas shoppers defy debt fears with record spree
Jan 04, 2004; ... BARCLAYCARD customers spent more on their cards in the run up toChristmas this winter than they did in 2002, despite general concernsabout personal debt levels. According to figures from Barclays, the amount spent byBarclaycard's 10m customers, plus those with the bank's Connect ...
With-profits bonds hit by 'immoral' exit penalties
Jan 04, 2004; ... SOME of Britain's biggest life insurance companies have dealt asevere blow to customers, many of them elderly, who depend on incomefrom with-profits investment bonds. The problem is affecting customers of, among others, Legal &General, Standard Life and Norwich Union who take ...
MM02 issues legal threat to non-customers Mobile phone company orders people who have never signed up to its service to pay their bills - or else
Jan 04, 2004; ... THREATENING letters demanding the immediate payment of overduebills are being sent out by MM02 to people who have never beencustomers of the 02 mobile phone company. At least three people known to The Sunday Telegraph, two of whomare members of staff, have received letters, signed ...
Fraudsters switch to porn to outwit the Vatman 'Missing trader' conmen are evading duty by switching to new products, such as 'herbal Viagra' and pornography. Robert Watts reports
Jan 04, 2004; ... The Government is giving itself a pat on the back for stamping ona rampant financial crime, but experts say fraudsters are fightingback with the help of pornography and "herbal Viagra". In the summer the Government announced a clampdown on "missingtrader fraud", which cost the ...
Briton to head Indian drugs giant
Jan 04, 2004; ... BRIAN TEMPEST, a veteran of Britain's pharmaceutical industry, isto take over as chief executive at Ranbaxy, India's largest drugsgroup, becoming one of the first non-Indians to head a leadingcompany on the subcontinent. Tempest, who runs Ranbaxy's pharmaceuticals division based in ...
Lamont's firm seeks openings in Iraq
Jan 04, 2004; ... LORD (Norman) Lamont, the former Tory chancellor, is endeavouringto exploit commercial opportunities in Iraq. He has set up a company to operate in the country and has alsojoined a corporate finance boutique founded by the brother of the newIraqi ambassador to the US. The ...
MBNA poised to buy Premium Credit
Jan 04, 2004; ... MBNA, the US credit card giant, is the leading bidder to buyPremium Credit, a specialist finance business, for around pounds200m. Premium Credit was put up for sale in September by ElectraPartners Europe, the private equity firm. Electra had originallylooked at floating Premium ...
Forte defies hotels recession
Jan 04, 2004; ... ROCCO Forte Hotels, the chain founded by Sir Rocco Forte, isforecasting a 50 per cent surge in profits at a time when theindustry has been hit by its worst recession for more than a decade. The rise in earnings will be a personal triumph for Sir Rocco. Thebusiness was set up seven ...
Low interest rates drive new car sales to a record
Jan 04, 2004; ... SALES of new cars are expected to have hit a record high of 2.57min 2003, according to figures due to be announced this week by theRetail Motor Industry Federation. The strong sales, which beat another record year in 2002, havebeen driven by low interest rates and intense ...
UK companies splurge on pay consultants
Jan 04, 2004; ... TEN BUSINESSES in the FTSE350 are using four or more consultantsto advise on how much to pay their top executives. According to data compiled by Manifest, the investor lobby group,BAE Systems, the defence and aerospace group, and Legal & General,the insurer, have hired five pay ...
Ignore Footsie fantasy; concentrate on reality Taking Stock
Jan 04, 2004; ... SO WHAT is my prediction about where the FTSE100 index will standin 12 months' time? Indeed, so what! The New Year prompts a surge ofmarket forecasts, all of them folly in my opinion. The notion of projecting entire sectors, figuring what thegovernment bond market implies for ...
A heartening dose of grumpiness to kick off 2004
Jan 04, 2004; ... I HAVE been deriving a surprising amount of pleasure from watchingthe re-runs of the Grumpy Old Men on TV over Christmas. I was strucknot only by how much they agreed with each other, but also by howmuch I agreed with them. I spent many satisfying hours (it was a veryquiet Christmas) ...
'There are no short-term fixes' Kate Swann, the chief executive of WH Smith, stunned the City with a profits warning last week. The road back will be long, she tells Lauren Mills
Jan 04, 2004; ... It's not the dream start that most new chief executives wouldlike. Just eight weeks after taking the helm of WH Smith, Kate Swannhas issued a dire warning that the famous company will undershootfull-year profit forecasts. On the first proper trading day after the Christmas and New ...
You're a nice chap, Richard, but it's time to hand over
Jan 04, 2004; ... Richard Handover is a likeable chap. A pillar of Business in theCommunity, he joined WH Smith in 1964 as a shop assistant and is nowchairman of the famous retailer. I was charmed by him when we had lunch last April. And I came awaywith three convictions: Handover would be staying ...