Paddington Station: The everyday masterpiece, still a marvel 165 years on
Jack Watkins discusses Isambard Kingdom Brunel's much-revered Paddington Station, and how it has adapted with the changing times — with help from a little bear in a red hat.
Jack Watkins is a freelance writer and long-time contributor to Country Life.
Jack Watkins discusses Isambard Kingdom Brunel's much-revered Paddington Station, and how it has adapted with the changing times — with help from a little bear in a red hat.
Small, shy and chubby with a neat black cap, this effervescent bird sings its heart out in spring. Jack Watkins meets the blackcap, also known as the March nightingale.
It is 90 years since Golden Miller won the first of a record-breaking five victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Jack Watkins looks back at other equine heroes of the race and assesses the Irish raider Al Boum Photo’s chances of making history at this year’s Festival.
The red telephone box has been part of the landscape of Britain for a century. Jack Watkins takes a look at its history and impact — and worries for its continued survival.
The peerless Barry Cryer on self-obsessed humour, an eczema cure and Boris Johnson.
The dinosaurs of Crystal Palace Park and the beleagured Gunnersbury Park are under threat. We must work to save them, says Jack Watkins.
Far from a celebration, the poem is a metaphor for the voyage Eliot believed the human spirit must make to experience Christ.
Handel's Messiah
The Forth Bridge, designed by Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Fowler, is one of the great masterpieces of Victorian engineering. Jack Watkins tells its story.
'No garden had greater influence in the second half of the 20th century' according to John Sales, the National Trust's former head gardener. Jack Watkins tells the tale of Vita Sackville-West's momumental achievements in creating the gardens at Sissinghurst.
Poppies aren't just beautiful, natural flowers lighting up the countryside; they're inextricably linked with our history. Jack Watkins looks at how the ‘painted glass’ that ‘never glows so brightly as when the sun shines through it’ became a powerful symbol of the brevity of life.
From common poppy and the poum poppy to the bright yellow Welsh poppy, Jack Watkins takes a look at these exquisite natural flowers.
With its 856ft-long, exuberant frontage, Blenheim Palace is the crowning glory of Vanbrugh's work. Jack Watkins takes a look at this genuine masterpiece.
Jack Watkins takes a look at the Yellow Room, the famed space in Mayfair that brought out the very best in Nancy Lancaster and John Fowler.
Jack Watkins takes a look at the creation of the Anglepoise lamp, still a perfect design that's yet to be superseded almost a century later.
With a sinister yellow gaze and legs ‘swoln like those of a gouty man’, the prehistoric-looking stone curlew is nonetheless an endearing little fellow, finds Jack Watkins.
Beatrix Potter's most famous creation, Peter Rabbit, remains as popular as ever, despite his genesis being well over a century ago. Jack Watkins investigates the enduring appeal of one of the naughtiest rabbits in children's literature.
More than 130 years ago, fears over the little egret’s fate helped to form the RSPB. Now, this exotic migrant is making a comeback, reports Jack Watkins.
St Paul's may not have the London skyline to itself as it once did, yet Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece still holds its own in a century full of glass and steel. Jack Watkins takes a look at this extraordinary building and its chief creator.
Fizzing over water like a fairy aeroplane, the swooping and hovering bejewelled dragonfly is one of the insect success stories of the 21st century — and, as a rule, it won’t bite you, says Jack Watkins.