Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Photographing Marilyn Monroe. Lawrence Schiller did it, to great effect. His account of working with the flirtatious, calculating star has shades of a coming-of-age story and makes for surprisingly compulsive reading
Huge feature revisits Whitney Houston's life, and death. How one of the greatest female vocalists in history fell foul of hard drugs, and toxic relationships. “She became a huge star but, like so many creations, they fall apart”
Hanging out with the actor, poker player. Known as the "Unabombshell". Wears low-cut tops. Poker players don't care. "Nothing looks better to them than a pair of aces. They’re not looking at your pair. They’re looking at their pair"
One hundred films in forty years. $7.4 billion in total takings. This is how a young boy from Chattanooga, Tennessee, became highest-grossing film actor in history. “I was a great alcoholic and drug addict like actors of old"
The story of Chris Chaney, man who hacked the stars. Lewd celebrity pictures were his speciality, until the FBI got involved. Now he faces a long prison sentence, for inflitrating private lives of dozens of celebrities
"Just because he may have fallen off your radar since he left Fox News doesn’t mean that millions of faithful listeners don’t still harken to his every dog-whistle warning. They do, and their views—and their votes—carry weight"
For once it lives up to its name. The only thing Larry David wants to talk about is lunch itself. Nuts are good in salad. Fruit too. But not cheese. “I’m anti-cheese in a salad. I don’t think the tastes are complementary"
The answer is Swami Vivekananda, the man who introduced America to "yoga". Simplified Vedantic thought to a few catchy teachings that the West found irresistible. Even Tolstoy was awed, praising him as "the most brilliant wise man"
Life of an unlikely punk, from his posthumous autobiography. Phil Spector carried four guns into the studio and screamed abuse at everyone. "I'm surprised that he didn't shoot someone every year"
Rare interview with movie star Sophia Loren. Still irresistible at the age of 77. "Head her in the direction of a camera, set her Etruscan eyes dancing, and Sophia is one of the most magnificent women in the world"
Conversation with Grammy award winning singer Adele. On family, love, music and the emergency throat surgery that threatened to end her career. “I am a fan, but I can’t remember what it feels like to be a fan anymore"
Morgan Freeman interview. Knew at 13 he was an actor. Long struggle before landing first major film role aged 50. Stitched together things he'd seen in real life to play terrifying pimp. Also learnt from long time spent with Mandela
