Spectator Life

Here in a quiet corner of leafy Surrey, a polite revolution is taking place: a public gallery is daring to display the most unfashionable sort of art you can imagine. Here you’ll find no pickled sharks, no unmade beds, only Victorian and Edwardian figurative painting. Welcome to Watts Gallery, one of the most beautiful galleries in Britain, and, in its own unassuming way, one of the most radical venues in the country. Hidden in a wooded glade near the quaint village of Compton, Watts Gallery has all the ingredients for a perfect Sunday afternoon outing. You can poke around the posh gift shop, or pig out in the teashop (their Welsh Rarebit is delicious) or simply sit outside in the sunshine and watch the world go by.

Leg of lamb à la ficelle: 'First, inherit an ancient stone farmhouse lost somewhere in the hills of the Luberon, then string up a leg of young lamb over a smoky wood fire...' As I chuckled over this sardonic intro to a recipe in one of my favourite cookery books of recent years, Sardine by Alex Jackson, my laughter quickly died as I realised that not only will I never inherit such a farmhouse — but I’ll also never again go to the restaurant that launched the book. Sardine was one of my best-loved London restaurants of the last decade, tucked away in an unlikely and not especially salubrious corner behind a drive-thru McDonald’s in the unfashionable hinterland between Old Street and Angel.

It looks like Barbie is having another makeover: last week toy maker Mattel announced that they were launching a range of dolls to honour women in STEM, making miniature models of pioneers such as US healthcare workers Amy O’Sullivan and Dr Audrey Cruz, Canadian doctor and campaigner Dr Chika Stacy Oriuwa, and - of course - Oxford vaccine designer Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert. Of all the accolades Gilbert has received this year - a damehood, the Albert Medal from the Royal Society of the Arts, a standing ovation at Wimbledon - I’m sure she is most thrilled by being immortalised as a pant-suited plaything. Whilst I am all for greater representation and diversity in toys designed for girls, I’m not convinced by Barbie’s feminist rebrand.

In Mary McCarthy’s 1954 novel The Group, Mr Andrews describes the contents of a charity shop (or thrift store if you hail from the States) as an 'instructive inventory of the passé'. And indeed, all charity shops are repositories of the recent past - a perfect distillation of expended trends and fashions. Worthy of an anthropologist’s eye, charity shops are living museums; rail after rail of cultural history infused with the faint smell of other people’s washing detergent and mothballs. But Mr Andrews missed one vital point: charity shops are not simply about the past. They are also caverns of possibility, where formerly prized objects become affordable, and where the taste of the customer reins supreme. There is no type of shop quite like it.

The great British summer is upon us. And, since few of us are venturing abroad, now might be the time to enjoy this season’s round of 'makeaway' boxes and bring something special to those long overdue barbecues. Upgrading the supermarket burger and sausage shop to fancy charcoal-griddled kebab part prepared by a catering professional has never been easier thanks to the array of cook at home boxes emerging from shuttered restaurants during lockdowns. Plus, it’s a mighty easy way to impress pals not seen for many months. All you need is the requisite Pimms, enough firelighters and a few sun dances.

If you’re still feeling sceptical about traffic light holiday chaos, or – along with the estimated five million other UK citizens – are stuck with a Covishield jab and concerned a European escape might end at the border, never fear – Blighty has your back. Only a car (or train) journey away are sun-dazzled shores offering balmy sea breezes, ocean vistas, and golden-sand beaches to rival the continent. UK hotels have reopened with a celebratory atmosphere, and while they’re stuffed to the rafters, last-minute isolation orders mean cancellations are providing ad-hoc availability at the eleventh hour. Here’s our picks of the isles’ best places to stay for a seaside jaunt.

If the sun is shining and the likelihood that all holiday destinations barring the South Sandwich Islands will probably be on the amber or red lists, the prospect of a British seaside break doesn’t look half bad. Of course, 50 per cent of the UK population will be thinking the same thing, so be prepared for packed beaches, overpriced hotels, melting Mr Whippys, undercooked burgers and screaming children. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. To get you in the mood, here are ten motion pictures that feature the sea.  A Bigger Splash (2015) Amazon Prime, Rent/Buy https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Have you ever wanted to fly? For me the urge comes whenever I see a bird hovering directly over a hedge, flying into the wind so it can maintain a position and spot prey. It’s not the prey I’m interested in, just the sensation. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to defeat gravity? Like many of us, Richard Browning had that same urge. Unlike the rest of us, he did something about it. Starting in 2016, he experimented with small jet turbines strapped to his arms and legs, pointing downwards so their thrust would lift him off the ground. His ‘flying suit’ took a long time (and a lot of money) to refine.

When it comes to source material for decent drama, police archives have a track record for delivering the goods. If you've binge-watched all the best true crime documentaries already, here are eight of the best fictional adaptations to keep you on the edge of your seat: The Salisbury Poisonings iPlayer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekoW6g_wg7A Televised back in spring 2020, this portrayal of the shocking events in Salisbury came with uncomfortable topical parallels: not least a frazzled public health official trying to identify and contain a mysterious deadly pathogen. Screenwriters Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn wisely choose to eschew the geopolitical intrigue and instead focus on the everyday Brits whose lives were turned upside down by the state-sponsored attack.

If you've tried to buy a second-hand van any time in the last 12 months, you might have noticed that the popularity of these humble commercial vehicles has travelled from the tradesman's entrance right around to the front door.The word on the street is that 'pre-loved' vans have become highly sought-after for two principal reasons: firstly, that the Covid-induced spike in on-line shopping has created a thriving jobs market for delivery drivers, and secondly that the 'staycation' trend has led to a surge in DIY camper conversions. I experienced the population's growing affection for the previously much-mocked 'white van' when I set-out in search of one of Ford Transit-sized proportions last August.

One of the most striking features of the second Covid summer has been the soaring prices of holiday cottages. How dare the owners of static homes in the vicinity of the coast be charging quite so much for the uneven pleasures of a week in a caravan park? Well, get used to it because as Britain’s population continues to soar – we’re on track to hit 75 million in the next two decades –pressure on property and prices is only going to increase. As Mark Twain remarked: ‘Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.’ All right, you say, we’ll go abroad instead, plus the weather’s better over there. Well good luck with that, too.

In Tokyo the 32nd Olympic games are well underway and unless you’re trying for a medal chances are you’re watching from home. Not to worry though, as London is full of ways to get a taste of Japan while travel restrictions remain in place. Here are some of the best places to eat and drink like you’re in Tokyo this summer. Sakaya at Pantechnicon, Belgravia Now up and running after lockdown delays, the ambitious Pantechnicon development offers Japanese and Nordic dining across multiple stories. Sakaya bar and bottle shop, occupies a little corner on the ground floor. The four-seater venue is inspired by Japanese Izakaya – traditional drinking spots that range in size from something like a pub to tiny counters folded into alleyways and subway stations.

It would be fair to say that despite working in a similar genre and having a propensity for making cameo appearances in many of his movies, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan is no Alfred Hitchcock. That’s not to denigrate Shyamalan; he’s made some entertaining pictures, but he’s unlikely to reach the exalted status of the ‘Master of Suspense’, despite his best efforts. Like Hitchcock, Shyamalan has also ventured into scripted television with the short-lived Wayward Pines (2015-16) and the current Apple+ psychological horror series Servant, which is picking up some of his best reviews to date.