Category: people

“Paul Roche, a noted English poet and translator who was among the last living associates of the Bloomsbury group, the skein of artists and writers twined around Virginia Woolf and her family, died on Oct. 30 at his home in Sóller, Majorca… The cause was cancer.”

“Nobel laureate Günter Grass has filed a lawsuit against the publisher of a biography for claiming that he voluntarily joined the Nazis’ murderous Waffen-SS unit during World War II.” Grass, who does not deny serving in the Waffen-SS, claims that he was drafted by the Nazi regime.

25 years after his death, Glenn Gould remains, arguably, the most popular pianist in the world. But do his accomplishments really justify all the breathless adulation? “The Gould legacy is of great value if we put it in the right place…”

Tindall, who wrote a tell-all book about musicians, was the object of action by ex-fiance Bill Nye. “Nye, who hosted the educational PBS series Bill Nye, the Science Guy, is seeking a permanent restraining order against Blair Tindall, alleging she tried to poison his vegetable garden, according to court records.”

“Bejart, a former dancer, had been in and out of hospital in recent months, suffering from exhaustion as well as kidney and heart problems. He died in hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland.”

Probably Hungary’s most prominent 20th century woman of letters, Szabo was the recipient of literary prizes both at home and abroad, including in 1978 Hungary’s highest literary distinction, the Kossuth prize.

Orhan Pamuk might be Turkey’s most celebrated writer, with a Nobel Prize and multiple bestselling books to his credit. But despite his fame, he’s never felt welcomed on the international literary scene, just as Turkey feels shoved to the outside of Europe, and alienation is a theme to which he has returned often.

The guitarist from the rock band Queen has been named chancellor of England’s Liverpool John Moores University. “The guitarist will begin the role in February, taking over from former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie.”

“Widely regarded as one of the finest British writers of the last century and a committed Catholic, Greene was sent to Mexico by the Vatican to document Government-led persecution – or so it was thought. Now, a sensational new theory has emerged – that Greene actually fled to Mexico to avoid being sent to prison over his infamous libel trial concerning the child star Shirley Temple.”

“Even when she’s bad – and there are times when I want to smack her – she is absolutely 100 per cent Bartoli, and for that alone, in an age in which phoney over-packaged mediocrity regularly passes as artistry, I love and salute her.”