10: The long gallery, Chastleton House, Moreton-in-Marsh, 1607-1612
As part of our series exploring Britain's architectural wonders, the Observer's architecture critic introduces a spectacular interactive 360-degree panoramic view of this classic example of the Jacobean long gallery• Explore the Chastleton House long...
Gandhi clan scours India’s largest state for votes among Muslims and outcast
The Congress party of Nehru and Indira Gandhi is accused of sacrificing free speech to make a comeback in India's most populous stateYou can find the Islamic Centre of India in the Aishbagh neighbourhood of the north-eastern city of Lucknow, flanked by...
How a bearded Virginia Woolf and her band of ‘jolly savages’ hoaxed the navy
Letter to go on sale revealing how Bloomsbury group duped an admiral – but feared fake beards would give them awayOne of the most famous practical jokes in British military history has returned to haunt the Royal Navy – more than a century later.A ...
Rachmaninov: Romances – review
Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone), Ivari Ilja (piano)(Ondine)This recording should come with the warning "too hot to handle", such is the combustible combination of Dmitri Hvorostovsky's heroic baritone with the flaming passion of intensely romantic Russi...
The ‘heretic’ at odds with scientific dogma
Rupert Sheldrake has researched telepathy in dogs, crystals and Chinese medicine in his quest to explore phenomena that science finds hard to explainIt is not often, in liberal north London, that you come face to face with a heretic, but Rupert Sheldra...
Trailer trash
Viggo Mortensen channels the spirit of Sigmund Freud, Southwark says no to Brit grit, and let's hear it (again) for UndefeatedViggo's Freudian slip One of the strangest interviews I've ever conducted happened last week when I met Viggo Mortensen in Sig...
I Married You for Happiness by Lily Tuck – review
An elegant novel about the anatomy of a marriage dwells more on art – and maths – than emotionThis novel is an elegant vigil – a long night's journey into day. A wife, Nina, sits with her husband, Philip, who has died of a heart attack. She waits...
The Trials and Triumphs of Les Dawson by Louis Barfe – review
A new life of Les Dawson celebrates a great British comic talent too often overlookedIt's May 1967, in the days when Britain really had talent. Hughie Green is hosting yet another of his Opportunity Knocks. And here, at last, comes fame, banging on the...
Occupy!: Scenes From Occupied America; edited by Astra Taylor, Keith Gessen et al – review
A collection of essays from those involved in the Occupy movement is both analytical and full of vivid experienceAfter the autumn of discontent comes, inevitably, the winter of writing it all up. An enormous amount of ink has been spilled – and even ...
Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Very British Coup by Christopher de Bellaigue – review
This fascinating biography of a 1950s Persian nobleman and politician explains much of Iran's antipathy towards BritainIran is the only country in the world where people think that secretly, behind the charade, America is Britain's poodle. The eponymou...
