Theatre, film & music
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Burns Night: What it is, where to go, what to do if you want to play host
Burns Night has been celebrated for well over 200 years – here's everything you need to know about celebrating Scotland's national poet.
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Twelfth Night: What it is, when it falls and why it's the biggest celebration we no longer enjoy
Once a time of merriment when rules were subverted, Twelfth Night has long since lost its sparkle, says Vicky Liddell, as she digs into the colourful past of the Feast of Fools and finds that some traditions live on.
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The real Ebeneezer Scrooge who inspired Charles Dickens was actually 'noted for his generosity, jovial disposition and appetite'
Ian Morton explores the runaway success of the Dickens Christmas classic and reveals the 'real' Ebenezer Scrooge, who was far from a mean man.
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Aled Jones on his favourite Christmas carol
Aled Jones speaks to Country Life about his favourite Christmas carols and Christmas traditions.
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The Country Life columnist who ended up at an illegal rave in the Brecon Beacons
Patrick Galbraith has a night to remember.
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Are these the seven best independent bookshops in Britain? A writer makes her case
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Indices to Country Life articles
The Country Life Index of articles is all articles published by Country Life, since 1897, in one place.
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What price culture? £380 to see Taylor Swift — or £12 for a night at the Royal Opera
Country Life's cultural crusader Athena takes a look at the thorny issue of live music ticket prices — and how the habits of concert-goers today show that the struggles of classical music and opera to find an audience run far deeper than mere cost.
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Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers turns 30
Not all heroes wear capes, some are more likely to put on the wrong trousers and ask their dog if he wants ‘more cheese’. Harry Pearson meets Wallace and Gromit, two of our best-loved Plasticine characters.
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The BBC Proms are the most ambitious, eclectic and successful classical music festival in the world — and we should celebrate them
The Proms are a great British institution and a remarkable success story, says Country Life's cultural commentator Athena.
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Henley Festival: 13 things you'll see at the 'posh Glastonbury'
Revellers in ball gowns and dinner jackets, turning up on board £200,000 boats to dance and party while knocking back magnums of vintage champagne? It can only be the extraordinary Henley Festival, the high-end musical extravaganza that's a sort of Glastonbury-on-Thames for the (very) well heeled. We sent Emma Earnshaw along to see what it was like.
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The best open air theatres in Britain
Amid the sweet chestnuts, walnuts and cobnuts of a Suffolk farm, a natural amphitheatre has been transformed into a glorious sylvan venue for touring companies to tread Nature’s boards. Jo Cairdv pays a visit to the mesmerising Thorington Theatre, and picks out three more of the finest outdoor performance venues in Britain.
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Thorington Theatre: How a WW2 bomb crater in Suffolk became one of Britain's most beautiful theatres
Amid the sweet chestnuts, walnuts and cobnuts of a Suffolk farm, a natural amphitheatre has been transformed into a glorious sylvan venue for touring companies to tread Nature’s boards, finds Jo Caird.
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William Shakespeare: The original Nature boy
William Shakespeare wasn’t only the greatest playwright of our history, he was an avid ornithophile, a green man and a master of transposing the true power of Nature onto the page, says John Lewis-Stempel.
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The 2023 summer outdoor opera season: Where to go, who to watch, and what to put in your picnic hamper
Henrietta Bredin, deputy editor of Opera magazine, shares her tips on how to make the most of the outdoor opera season in Britain this summer.
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The day Elton John invaded the Cotswolds
As Elton John’s Rocket Records celebrates its 50th anniversary, former NME editor Steve Sutherland remembers the very boozy launch party, held in the unlikely, but charming Cotswolds setting of Moreton-in-Marsh.
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J.R.R. Tolkien: The life and times of the lord of the books
From a sentence born of an exhausting teaching job, J. R. R. Tolkien crafted a series of fantastical novels that, 50 years on from his death, still loom as large in our imagination as Sauron’s all-seeing eye, says Matthew Dennison.
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How 'levelling-up' in the Arts has backfired for regional theatres: 'It's the guillotine, not the salami-slicer'
London and the South of England have long been the primary beneficiaries of Arts funding, but is the Government’s latest plan to ‘level up’ actually doing the opposite? Claire Jackson investigates.
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The first-ever vinyl LP turns 75 this year
Music-lovers who replaced their records with CDs three decades ago can still barely believe vinyl's unlikely resurgence — but the fresh interest in this old medium is still going as the first ever vinyl LP turns 75. Martin Fone charts the history of vinyl long-play records.