Contents September/October 2012

THIS SEASON

The best things to see and hear this autumn, from old African photographs in New York to a quirky Portuguese movie and Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde

 

INTELLIGENCE

THE BIG QUESTION
What’s the worst that could happen?

THE MUSIC OF SCIENCE
Oliver Morton on the story behind the ecosystem

ENVIRONMENT
A chat with David Attenborough

FOOD
Bring me my pot: Bee Wilson on kitchen implements

THE WINE-LIST INSPECTOR
Where to drink on Wall Street

STOVE NOTES
Simon Hopkinson on chili con carne

CARS
Never mind the horsepower, feel the storage

A GAME, A GADGET AND AN APP
Turn yourself into a plague

 

STYLE 

INTERIORS
What hotels have done to our homes

THE SCEPTICAL SHOPPER
Big televisions

APPLIED FASHION
Rebecca Willis on prints

THE LINE OF BEAUTY
A short history of concrete

MAN IN A SUIT
A sharp look for a lighting designer

 

FEATURES 

TOM STOPPARD
Between plays, he has adapted "Anna Karenina" and "Parade’s End" for the screen. Stoppard discusses life, art and his local grocer with Victoria Glendinning

PHOTO ESSAY
Faces of faith around the world, by Fernando Moleres

COVER STORY: SERGEI POLUNIN
What makes ballet’s rebel run, by Julie Kavanagh

GROWING UP IN A HIGH-SECURITY HOSPITAL
Patrick McGrath’s father was the doctor in charge at Broadmoor, so the whole family went to live there—which suited him fine

 

CULTURE

AUTHORS ON MUSEUMS
Jacqueline Wilson on dolls in Paris 

MOOD MUSIC
Songs for autumn

AT THE CINEMA
Tom Shone on the best American film this year

BOOKS
Notes on a Voice: Tom Wolfe
Found in Translation: "L'Etranger" with a twist
Six Good Books: Maggie Fergusson on Ian McEwan et al

VISUAL CV
The best of Javier Bardem 

 

PLACES

MAIN FEATURE
How to get under the skin of the Seychelles: go 48 times

GOING NATIVE
When in... Berlin 

SEVEN WONDERS
Chosen by Yotam Ottolenghi, saviour of the salad

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Robert Macfarlane goes after some rare birds

CARTOPHILIA
Here be lions: the world in the early 1400s

 

THE MISSION
Will Smith becomes a street cleaner

LETTERS
Boxing, algae, roast chicken and more