Any good movie is filled with secrets. —Mike Nichols Imagine a movie called The Graduate. It stars Robert Redford as Benjamin Braddock, the blond and bronzed, newly minted college graduate adrift in his parents’ opulent home in Beverly Hills. And Candice Bergen as his girlfriend, the overprotected Elaine Robinson. Ava Gardner plays the predatory Mrs. Robinson, the desperate housewife and mother who ensnares Benjamin. Gene Hackman is her cuckolded husband. It nearly happened that way. That it didn’t made all the difference. It all began with a book review. On October 30, 1963, a 36-year-old movie producer named Lawrence Turman read Orville Prescott’s review of Charles Webb’s first novel, The Graduate, in The New York Times. Though Prescott described the satirical novel as “a fictional failure,” he compared Webb’s misfit, malaise-ridden hero, Benjamin Braddock, to Holden Caulfield, the hero of J. D. Salinger’s classic The Catcher … [Read more...] about The Making of “The Graduate”
Quid and pound whats the difference
FEMAIL tries Britain’s cheapest £1 roast dinner at The Britannia pub
Earlier this week, a pub in Margate announced that this Sunday it will be serving up what's believed to be Britain's cheapest roast dinner - beef and all the trimmings for just £1. The Britannia hopes to attract new customers with plates of meat from a local family butchers; roast potatoes; locally sourced carrots, green beans and parsnips; cauliflower cheese. Yorkshire pudding and stuffing balls - served with homemade gravy. The only catch is that you have to spend at least £3 at the bar, and the owners promise that the meal is exactly the same roast they've always served, using the same quality ingredients, and all that's been cut is the cost. But what kind of a portion do you get for a single pound, and what about the quality of the ingredients? Femail's Hayley Richardson went to The Britannia to try it out ahead of Sunday's launch Femail's Hayley Richardson visited The Britannia to sample their roast beef dinner, which comes with … [Read more...] about FEMAIL tries Britain’s cheapest £1 roast dinner at The Britannia pub
Things to do in Buenos Aires: Tantalising Tango and Seductive Steaks
Numbers count for a lot in passionate, seductive, uncompromisingly carnivorous Buenos Aires. There’s the two national days, there’s the 459ft, 16 lane Avenue 9 de Julio, the ‘Widest avenue in the World’ (apparently it’s not but never mind, it’s undeniably enormous and quite a challenge to cross). Then there’s the Twelves, the nickname for the fans of Maradona’s first football club Boca Juniors, since the raucous crowd at the iconic blue and yellow Bombonera stadium is regarded as a 12th man on the pitch. It’s the home of the the world’s No1 steaks (just my opinion, but I’m right) and the world’s most provocative dance... and, of course, it takes two to tango. So, where to begin on a short break in this sprawling, exhilarating South American metropolis of 12million residents? Let’s start with the dead. The capital of Argentina – now a direct 13hr 40min, 6,925 mile BA flight from Heathrow, the longest … [Read more...] about Things to do in Buenos Aires: Tantalising Tango and Seductive Steaks
Fighting cancer and crime: Doña Ana County detective shares challenging experience
Robert "Bo" Nevarez, 62, senior detective with the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department, vividly recalls the day he discovered an unusual lump on his neck. It was a Saturday morning — April 1, 2017 — and Nevarez and his wife planned to go to lunch. He was shaving in preparation to leave when he found the unexpected nodule. "And I noticed it hadn't been there the day before," Nevarez said. "It was a hard lump. And, it was about the size of a pecan. It was noticeable." Nevarez had previously read that people should watch for lumps in connection to cancer. And he was aware there are lymph nodes in a person's neck that could be susceptible. So he told his wife, Antoinette, about the discovery, and the two immediately shifted the day's schedule. Before long, Nevarez was being seen by a doctor at a Las Cruces urgent care facility. Nevarez recalls the physician didn't like what he saw. "He said, had it been a soft lump, he wouldn't have the concerns that … [Read more...] about Fighting cancer and crime: Doña Ana County detective shares challenging experience
The Elder Statesman of Latin American Literature — and a Writer of Our Moment
‘Shall we sit outside?” Mario Vargas Llosa asked me, gesturing through the library’s floor-to-ceiling windows at the brilliant September afternoon. The only Peruvian ever to have won a Nobel Prize, Vargas Llosa now lives in an eight-bedroom mansion on the fringes of Madrid, in the neighborhood known as Puerta de Hierro. When I arrived, a butler in a white jacket led me through the enormous two-story foyer, across gleaming black and white tiles, into a library lined with dark wood bookcases. A crystal ashtray sat next to silver dishes of chocolate and cigarettes. This imposing casona seemed like a fitting residence for the last living giant of a golden age of Latin American literature, a man who may well be the most politically important novelist of our time, but the house does not belong to Vargas Llosa. Over the library’s fireplace hung a portrait of its owner, Isabel Preysler, in a red dress. Preysler, who was born in the Philippines but has lived in Spain … [Read more...] about The Elder Statesman of Latin American Literature — and a Writer of Our Moment