Bow flyover: who would have thought?
Congratulations to my friends and clients, Adams & Sutherland architects, winners of the Architect of the Year Awards 2012 in the Public Realm category. Above, the underpass at Bow flyover in East London is likely to be a lifesaver. One of the city’s most dangerous junctions, 2011 saw two cyclists die there within the space of...
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Scooped! a kiss from Jean Dujardin
Somehow, I managed to steal a kiss from Jean Dujardin, who was wildly popular with the French crowd at Cannes, and wholly unknown by everyone else, back then in May 2011. Somehow, all the fuss seemed to be about Uggy, the dog, winner of that year’s Palm Dog award. Paw on the pulse, as they...
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Swan, meditating, St James’s Park
This swan caught my eye one sunlit evening as I crossed the park. Although the image required a bit of retouching – removing debris from the surface of the water and upping the contrast to remove a green tinge from the lake, as far as’nature’shots go, it’s a relatively natural one....
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High on Oxygène: Jean-Michel Jarre en Monaco
After a few days of scandal and wildfire gossip that saw William Hill “slashing” their odds against a cancellation, Charlene said “I do” and the celebrations kicked off. Rumours of extraordinary extravagance: €1500+ per-head dinners; tens of thousands of flowers and rivers of champagne are probably true – arriving at the concert last night with...
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Unlawful Killing: Gangsters in Tiaras and Shrinks in Armchairs
In short – “They murdered ‘er and then they covered it up.” You can bet that this phrase featured either in Private Eye’s ‘Great Bores of Today’ or ‘A Taxi Driver Writes’ and, if the latter, was followed by “I ‘ad that Mohamed Al Fayed in the back of my cab once”. Clearly, Al...
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We Have a Chest: Cheryl Cole hits Cannes
It’s true that you’ve never got your camera to hand when you really want one, and I kicked myself earlier in the week as I happened upon DeNiro, Jude Law and Linn Ullmann exiting the back of the Majestic Hotel, where the Festival Jury had been meeting. Ten minutes later, walking along the Croisette,...
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Fountains, frozen, the Louvre Paris
And not a drop to drink… This edit was inspired by an extremely severe bout of winter flu during which I lay parched and feverish with my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, yet strangely nauseated by the taste of water. Hydrophobic, like a rabid dog. Although no dog has ever explained to...
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Love is…in the air
Moments before swooping to their roosts as the sun set on 2010, the last starling murmuration of 2010 formed a heart that beat twice before dispersing into the evening air. A number of theories attempt to explain the birds’ behaviour: the ‘safety in numbers’ principle (self explanatory); or that none of them wants to be...
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When the Moon Hits Your Eye
To mark the unusual (every half-century or so) occasion of a total eclipse falling on the Winter Solstice. The chances of your reading this and seeing another are relatively slim; the next will be in 2094. See Nasa’s lunar eclipse group on Flickr for related images, including one of the Washington Monument from a curiously...
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Full of … Grace
Grace Kelly – The Monaco Years, an exhibition marking the 25th anniversary of her death, eclipsed attempts by all others to do the same, which was, of course, the point. Her dresses were later passed to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, but Monaco’s most memorable and moving exhibits were letters that the then Princess Grace...
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A little drop…of belle epoque
Although the Carré d’Or lacks the almost medieval charm of Vieux Nice, its turn of the (19th) century architecture has its own appeal. At left, the Boulangerie Multari, a chain of bakeries selling extraordinarily delicious tartes and other farinacious delights....
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From Russia with Love
The domes of La Chiesa di Cristo Salvatore, Santa Caterina Martire e San Serafino di Sarov (Church of Christ the Savior, St. Catherine the Martyr and St. Serafin de Sarov) are its most beautiful and distinctive attributes. They featured fleetingly in the 2009 movie Io Sono L’amore (I am Love), whose heroine, Emma Recchi (Tilda...
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Death is Certain:
notes from an Indian road trip
Only Death is Certain Paradoxically, although nearly everyone gets sick in Delhi (myself excluded – I got sick a week after I left) it’s easy to eat healthily. Fruit is fairly cheap, and at the juice bars on the Main Bazaar it’s possible to buy a glass of sugar cane juice for ten rupees...
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