They foiled plots and cracked Nazi codes, but Britain's spies were unable to solve the mystery of Charlie Chaplin's birth.
Although the entertainer is celebrated as one of London's most famous sons, newly declassified files reveal that Britain's (...)
Director Ken Russell got Oliver Reed and Alan Bates to wrestle naked, turned Vanessa Redgrave into a demonic nun and cast Ringo Starr as the pope. Critics and mainstream audiences often hated his films. Actors and admirers loved him.
The (...)
The magical world of Harry Potter is being meticulously reassembled at a former aerodrome near London.
The collection of sheds and sound stages is where the eight films were shot over the course of a decade, and soon they will be home to the (...)
Punk rockers once wanted to smash the state. Now they're helping preserve stately homes.
The National Trust charity, which oversees Britain's castles and historic houses, has released a fundraising album of punk classics.
"Never Mind the (...)
LONDON (AP) — Few artists summed up their own career in a single song — a single line — as well as Amy Winehouse.
"They tried to make me go to rehab," she sang on her world-conquering 2006 single, "Rehab." ''I said 'No, no no.'"
Occasionally, (...)
Everybody at Cannes is talking about "We Need to Talk about Kevin," and director Lynne Ramsay is not surprised at the strong reaction.
It is, after all, about a teenager who commits a school massacre, and his mother's bottomless grief.
Some (...)
According to a provocative new documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, Britain's royals are racist "gangsters in tiaras" and Prince Philip is a womanizing psychopath.
The movie "Unlawful Killing" revives claims that Princess Diana — adored by (...)
Made-in-England favorite "The King's Speech" leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars, with 14 nominations announced Tuesday, including best picture.
Colin Firth is the best-actor front-runner for his (...)
She's renowned for her precise, exquisite prose, but new research shows Jane Austen was a poor speller and erratic grammarian who got a big helping hand from her editor.
Oxford University English professor Kathryn Sutherland studied 1,100 (...)
Tony Blair's long-awaited memoir says the former British prime minister doesn't regret the Iraq war — although he wept for its victims — and carries revelations about the politician's alcohol use, his interactions with the queen and his testy (...)
Never mind who wins on the field. There's another, more melodic, World Cup battle afoot — on the music charts, in the stands and blaring from radios and mobile phones around the world.
As 32 teams compete in South Africa for football's highest (...)
Tom Rachman went into journalism to become a novelist.
Neither is among the world's most secure professions, and Rachman is mildly astonished that his plan succeeded beyond all expectations.
After a decade as an editor and foreign (...)
A warming planet, deadlocked politicians, feuding scientists. The headlines about climate change are a source of worry and satisfaction to Ian McEwan.
The British writer's new novel, "Solar, brings the problem of global warming up against the (...)
Intense war drama The Hurt Locker and blockbuster sci-fi spectacle Avatar are squaring off at the British Academy Film Awards - a curtain raiser for their Academy Awards battle in Los Angeles next month.
British coming-of-age drama An Education (...)
Is it possible to have too much ABBA?
Knowing me, knowing you, the answer is no.
The spangly Swedish quartet that gave the world Waterloo and Dancing Queen has sold 400 million records since its 1970s heyday and spawned the hugely successful (...)
Sci-fi extravaganza Avatar, Iraq drama The Hurt Locker and coming-of-age story An Education earned eight nominations apiece Thursday in the race for the British Academy Film Awards, Britain s equivalent of the Oscars.
The three films are up for (...)
A tale of political intrigue set during the reign of King Henry VIII won the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction Tuesday.
Hilary Mantel s Wolf Hall scooped the ?50,000 ($80,000) prize. Mantel s novel charts the upheaval caused by the king s (...)