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 ...
Piltdown Man: British archaeology’s greatest hoax | Robin McKie
When the find was revealed to be a 'cheap fraud', several eminent men – including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – were put in the frame. Now scientists aim to put an end to the mystery once and for allIn a few weeks, a group of British researchers wi...
Alain de Botton’s atheist temple is a nice idea, but a defunct one | John Gray
De Botton's atheist temple call does not need to be realised – our existing places of worship can be appreciated by allAlain de Botton has reinvigorated the conversation on religion. His new book moves away from the tedious debates of recent yea...
National Library Day: a year on
Campaigners have saved some libraries from closure, and an inquiry begins next week – but councils are now under greater financial pressure than ever to cut servicesIn the 12 months since a surge of public protest against proposed library closures wa...
Charles Dickens’s characters come to life – in pictures
Some of English literature's best-known characters have been traced to individuals who lived in the same Marylebone streets as the teenage Charles Dickens
Real-life Charles Dickens characters traced
Historian finds many of literature's best-known names in the London streets of Dickens's teenage yearsBill Sikes and Scrooge are among the most well-known characters in English literature but rather than being figments of Charles Dickens's imagination,...
Book festival wants authors, not celebrities
Some literature festivals focus on stars first and books second, says Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh international book festivalA book festival is about books, and should not be driven by stars and celebrities, Scotland's leading literary festi...
Carol Ann Duffy and Geoffrey Hill: truly poetic heavyweights | Lemn Sissay
In the latest poetic punch-up, Duffy and Hill show why poets find it hard to be team playersNo sooner are Judith Palmer, the Poetry Society director, and Fiona Sampson, the Poetry Review editor, out of the news than another poetry punch-up enters the r...
Audiences flock to ‘difficult’ contemporary classical music
The Southbank, Barbican, ENO and BBC4 are catering for the new-found appetite for sonic adventureWhen Swiss conductor Baldur Brönnimann was a student 25 years ago, "if you had more than 30 people at a concert it was a failure because it was popul...
Brontë museum faces closure because of council budget cuts
Supporters launch appeal to save the Red House in West Yorkshire, home of one of Charlotte Brontë's closest friendsOne of the major shrines to the Brontë family is facing closure and sale because of budget cuts and recession – a combination that al...
A keen eye for the state of the nation
From food to finance, he's already one of our most accomplished writers. Now, he has tackled present-day London, with a book that's being called the great British novel of the early 21st century. By William SkidelskyWhen, two years ago, John Lanchester...
Jonathan Franzen is wrong: the digital age is making us smarter | Henry Porter