John Osborne
30 September 2026
The lesson that Jamal Khashoggi left behind
The murdered Saudi dissident believed his country could change – and that a journalist must uncover all the facts so people could decide
Read the full article23 September 2026
Bessie Smith: the woman who faced down the Ku Klux Klan
When a group of white supremacists turned up outside one of her shows in the summer of 1927, the great blues singer knew just what to do
Read the full article16 September 2026
Hiroshi Yamauchi, the unlikely genius behind Nintendo
The fiercely ambitious businessman turned a family playing-card business into a global entertainment empire – by spotting talent and betting on the future
Read the full article09 September 2026
Noor Inayat Khan, the pacifist turned wartime secret agent
She parachuted into occupied France as an SOE radio operator. The statue of her in London was the first monument to an Asian woman anywhere in Britain
Read the full article02 September 2026
The kiss that turned Michael K Williams into Omar
The actor poured his vulnerability into The Wire’s most celebrated character – with devastating consequences
Read the full article19 August 2026
BKS Iyengar, the ferocious gentleman of yoga
He built a global philosophy of physical freedom – but demanded absolute commitment
Read the full article12 August 2026
Why did Babe Ruth’s rivals think he was black?
Baseball’s biggest star was the subject of racist insults at a time when black players were banned from the game
Read the full article05 August 2026
Inside the wild film flop that unlocked Robin Williams
Robert Altman’s Popeye was a disaster – until it wasn’t
Read the full article29 July 2026
The night Fela Kuti turned music into a weapon
The bandleader was drifting on a long US tour until he met an activist who redefined his purpose
Read the full article22 July 2026
Phyo Zeya Thaw, the MC who faced down Myanmar’s generals
The rapper turned politician gave young people a voice – so the military had to silence him
Read the full article15 July 2026
Inside the notebooks that built Bruce Lee
The martial arts star wrote down his philosophies and hopes as a means of enacting them
Read the full article08 July 2026
The night New York discovered Frida Kahlo
How a small Manhattan exhibition in 1938 helped launch one of the most celebrated artists of the modern age
Read the full article01 July 2026
Why Diogo Jota will always be Liverpool’s number 20
His final goal captured everything fans loved about the man who called himself ‘a small guy from Gondomar’
Read the full article10 June 2026
The tragedy of Majed Abu Maraheel, Palestine’s first Olympic hero
His message of peace brought hope to the world - then war in Gaza played a part in his death
Read the full article03 June 2026
The secrets of the Iron Sheik, the man America loved to hate
The cartoonish villain who turned to cocaine was once an Olympic-calibre wrestler who helped US athletes win gold
Read the full article27 May 2026
The childhood trauma that left Maya Angelou mute for five years
Violence silenced her, before she decided to tell the world about it
Read the full article20 May 2026
How Beyoncé inspired Tina Turner’s last stand
The singer had been living in quiet retirement – then one night changed everything
Read the full article13 May 2026
Was Andy Kaufman the most creative comedian of all time?
The Taxi star revelled in creating chaos and confusion
Read the full article06 May 2026
Tenzing Norgay and the Everest question that wouldn’t go away
Once the world’s tallest mountain had been scaled, they all wanted to know: Who stepped on the summit first?
Read the full article29 April 2026
The race that made Ayrton Senna
At Monaco 1984, the Brazilian announced himself as a legend – but a decade later, he was gone
Read the full article22 April 2026
The woman behind Mary Poppins hated the Disney classic – and this is why
PL Travers told Walt Disney to throw out the animation and that Julie Andrews was too pretty for the role
Read the full article15 April 2026
The night that Purple Rain broke Prince
A performance in Japan meant the end of the Revolution – and began a new chapter in the life of an eccentric genius
Read the full article01 April 2026
Kazuo Shiraga, the Japanese artist who turned painting into violence
The abstract painter wanted to make art like he was ‘rushing through a battlefield’ – so he started using his feet as brushes
Read the full article25 March 2026
Billy Wilder, the outsider who understood the American soul
The exiled writer/director knew that audiences really wanted empathy from Hollywood, not glamour
Read the full article18 March 2026
Nawal El Saadawi, the rebel doctor who wrote the truth on prison toilet roll
With her distinctive bold colours, grey curls and bright scarves, Saadawi became a feminist icon. Margaret Atwood called her ‘one of the great radical voices of our time’
Read the full article11 March 2026
Lucie Aubrac, the pregnant spy who outwitted the Gestapo
Her remarkable wartime exploits – including a dramatic prison break – made her a legend of the French Resistance
Read the full article04 March 2026
Lou Ottens,the inventor who set music free
His invention of the cassette tape revolutionised the way people listened to music – but he never patented it. 21st June 1926 – 6th March 2021
Read the full article25 February 2026
Shane Warne, the drift, the turn, the legend
Flawed, flamboyant and freakishly gifted, Warne turned leg-spin into high art – and made every ball an event
Read the full article11 February 2026
Charles M Schulz, the cartoonist of melancholy
How the creator of Peanuts created humour from loneliness and sadness
Read the full article04 February 2026
Asma Jahangir, the woman who would not be silenced
Her confrontation with Pakistan’s military rulers was rooted in a lifetime of activism that began in childhood and never wavered
Read the full article28 January 2026
Coretta Scott King, the architect of a legacy
How the widow of Martin Luther King Jr transformed mourning into a lifelong movement
Read the full article21 January 2026
Victoria Ocampo, the woman who made Argentina a literary power
Dismissed by friends and launched in an era when women lacked the vote, Ocampo’s Sur magazine became a defining force in 20th-century literature and politics
Read the full article