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Will Hosie: In defence of gatekeeping and why we have to stop confusing TopJaw with proper critiqueModern audiences expect critics to keep up with the times, but it's always been their job to keep some places under wraps.
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Sir Denys Lasdun: The brains behind the building branded 'a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London’ by The KingJohn Betjeman admired Sir Denys Lasdun’s work, but The King disliked it, and opinion remains divided to this day. Either way, the man who viewed ‘buildings as landscape’ has left an indelible mark on London.
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What everyone is talking about this week: Would you swim in the River Thames?Week in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
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The 11 best restaurants in London for al fresco diningThere is no shortage of places to dine outside in London, from five-star hotels to canal-side picnic tables.
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Everything the light touches… The London penthouse for sale that will make you feel like a kingThe Observatory in London’s Fulham boasts 360-degree views of the capital.
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Reading al fresco: The best places in London to get lost in the written word, according to the Country Life teamIn London, north, east, south and west, there's a public place suitable for all performative acts of reading.
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Princess, patron and purveyor of the arts: The Princess of Wales unveils her own ‘mini display’ at V&A East StorehouseThe Princess of Wales has curated a wide-ranging display of objects, now on display at the newly opened V&A East Storehouse.
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Raffles London at The OWO hotel review: How eight years and £1.4 billion transformed the birthplace of BondBut was it worth it? Emma Hughes checks in.
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‘He’s been here and fired a gun’: How the rivalry between Turner and Constable spiced up Britain’s art sceneTate Britain will delve into the ‘war’ between the two great landscape artists, much touted by the art critics of their time, with a late-autumn exhibition, ‘Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals’.
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Model Kate Moss’s former London home in leafy St John’s Wood is up for saleKate Moss’s former London home has only had one owner since she sold it in 2012 and moved to the Cotswolds.
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From the headless king to the mouths of the masses: Britain's ice-cream originsOn National Ice-Cream Day, Jack Watkins traces the sweet treat’s roots and discovers that its popularity owes a lot to London’s ingenious residents and Regent’s Canal.
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The architect who created the MI6 building only designed a tiny handful of houses — and one of them is now up for sale in one of London's most bucolic spotsSir Terry Farrell designed the beautiful, light-filled, T-shaped Drum House in Petersham, with gardens laid out by John Sallis Chandler, who has won multiple RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medals.
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‘It only remains for our descendants to curse our impotence and laissez-faire’: Only four photographs of a storied London townhouse survive inside the Country Life archive — and it was brutally demolished not once, but twiceNo. 32, Soho Square was demolished not once, but twice, despite warnings of doing so in Country Life.
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The former stables — and recording studio for the Pet Shop Boys — transformed with a magical blend of city and country aesthetic, now seeking a new ownerIn the heart of Clerkenwell, what was once a Victorian industrial unit is now a beautiful home.
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‘One of the most effective pieces of propaganda ever made’: the Bayeux Tapestry heads to Britain for the first time in almost a millenniumA historic agreement between this country and France sees the 225ft-long tableau — which may have been made in Britain but has been in France since 1077 — arrive at the British Museum in Autumn 2026.
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What everyone is talking about this week: 'People who tended to be more obedient about lockdown are now its fiercest critics'Week in, week out, Will Hosie rounds up the hottest topics on everyone's lips, in London and beyond.
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West London's spent the last two decades as the laughing stock of the style set — here's how it got its groove backThe style set is returning to the very West London neighbourhoods it once made a habit of spurning, finds Will Hosie.
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These are the 10 best places to live in the world — and nowhere in the UK or US made the cutLondon, Edinburgh, New York? Move over. Copenhagen is the place to be.
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From the Country Life archive: Yes, that is a Moon Transmitter on London's South BankEvery Monday, Melanie Bryan, delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
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The era of the £50 burger and chips is here — and it's a revelationThe second coming of the high-low restaurant — where chefs pair martinis with burgers — is here. Will Hosie tells more.
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Game, set, match: Jack Draper, Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune to light up London's Giorgio Armani Tennis ClassicThe British number one leads the list of three top-10 players that will take to the courts at the 150-year-old Hurlingham Club in London from June 24–28.
