Lifestyle - Saturday, June 13, 2026

Brendan Maclean had never spoken with drag queen Karen from Finance in person, nor laid eyes on the man behind the makeup. Then came a chance encounter in Melbourne Find more stories from the moment I knew series I’d had a big, sparkly pop career in my 20s but by 2024 I was beyond my twink era, and getting by hopping from one weird gig to the next. Covid had really done a number on the music industry and, while my friend Paul Mac had kept me making music, I found myself drifting through a strange, boozy few years in Sydney. I’d been single since 2020 and my best friend was my cat. Throughout that hazy time, I was as terminally online as ever. At 38 I was posting like a 20-year-old. One day, for no particular reason, I posted a track from the Dissociatives’ self-titled album from the mid-noughties. Paul, who I call my gay uncle, and Daniel Johns of Silverchair fame, had made just one LP together, and the obscure track, Thinking in Reverse , was one of my favourites. Continue reading...

The very best double creams have a wildly complex taste, but which brands are a little scoop of sunshine and which are much of a muchness? • The best supermarket natural yoghurts This was a tricky taste test, not least because 70% of these creams tasted pretty much exactly the same, which is a clear reflection of how homogeneous our conventional food system has become (much of our cream is made from milk sourced from thousands of farms across the country and mixed together). Even the packaging is more or less identical, with a printed plastic tub and a peelable plastic lid. British double cream is about 48% fat , which is higher than whipping cream (35%) and just below clotted (55% plus). This matters in practical terms because that’s why it whips more firmly, holds its shape longer and is less likely to split when added to a hot sauce. Conventional cream does the job well (it’s white, neutral in flavour and whips well), but really good cream is thick, gloopy and wildly fatty, with an unbelievably complex taste and remarkably nourishing effect; it’s also eminently whippable. Scooping a blob of cream like that straight from the tub can replenish energy and satiate in an almost alchemical way. Continue reading...

The actor on missing his late mother, Maggie Smith, being mistaken for Damian Lewis, and looking ‘like a fridge’ Born in London, Toby Stephens, 57, is the son of actors Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens. He trained at Lamda and, in 1992, made his film debut in Orlando. In 2002 he played the Bond villain in Die Another Day. His television work includes One Day, The Split and Black Sails. On stage he has performed for the RSC and the National Theatre, and he is currently starring in Equus at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, until 4 July, and then Theatre Royal Bath, from 14-25 July. He is married to the actor Anna‑Louise Plowman, with whom he has three children, and lives in London. What is your greatest fear? To be completely alone. Continue reading...

The dog was in dire condition when they found him, but right away accepted two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and belly rubs from the crew.

From Brinsworth House and Denville Hall to Goliath, Timperley Early and Valentine, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 Which African capital city and its river are anagrams of each other? 2 In the UK, which bird of prey has gone from near extinction to about 4,500 breeding pairs? 3 Which 1956 play was written on a deckchair on Morecambe Pier? 4 Which song features nine times in the film Groundhog Day? 5 Who was the only crowned heir apparent to the English throne? 6 Denville Hall and Brinsworth House are retirement homes for whom? 7 What is England’s largest forest? 8 What volcanic glass is named after a Roman traveller? What links: 9 CND chair; 9-57 v South Africa; Happy Valley star; RAF philanthropist? 10 Benfica, 2026 and 1978; Galatasaray, 1986; Perugia, 1979; Red Star, 2008? 11 Coal Miner’s Daughter; I Saw the Light; Sweet Dreams; Walk the Line? 12 Champagne; Fulton’s Strawberry Surprise; Goliath; Timperley Early; Valentine? 13 Isabella Bird; Nellie Bly; Ida Pfeiffer; Freya Stark? 14 Sunshine Desserts (Barron); LA beaches (Anderson); White House (Janney)? 15 Eddy; Falstaff; Junior; Lily; Lin; Lucy; Oscar? Continue reading...

I found cinematic landscapes, wild freedom and thousands of miles of perfect solitude on my campervan adventure through the Nordic countries It’s midnight, in June. Powder pink and dark grey clouds drift across a pallid sky, the palette reflecting in the motionless water of Lake Inari. Islets of pine and just-budding birch create pools of distorted shade close to the horizon of this 420 sq mile (1,080 sq km) lake in Lapland, northern Finland. There is not a sound. It’s so silent, I barely breathe to avoid disturbance. Only me, the lake and a moonbeam-coloured moth, whose wingbeat is inaudible. I am sat beside my car-sized campervan, with mesmerised reverence for the rose-tinged panorama. I do not wish to go to bed and miss this moment. And I am loving the wild freedom and deliciousness of being entirely alone, with nobody in the world knowing my exact whereabouts. Ordinarily, I would be long asleep by midnight, exhausted after a day of work and family life. But I have left my husband and (adult) children at home in England for an eight-week solo camping adventure through Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway, with the singular aim of reaching Nordkapp (North Cape) and Knivskjellodden, Europe’s northernmost point at the top of Norway, in time for midsummer. Continue reading...

Yusuf, 25, who works in finance, meets Hannah, 26, a PhD student What were you hoping for? Someone interesting, good chat is more important than anything. And a fun story. I like a random side quest. Continue reading...

Opening up the back doors means we have a few uninvited guests in the house, giving my wife the opportunity to practise her tea towel bird-catching technique Our kitchen extension is typical of the area: a single-storey box with a big skylight, a picture window and glass double doors leading to the garden. It’s the sort of arrangement that advocates say brings the outdoors indoors. What they don’t say is: birds will get in. It’s largely a summer problem, when the double doors are flung open and the sunlight through the glass creates the illusion that kitchen and garden are one. Sometimes a magpie will stroll in off the lawn, glance around in confusion and walk back out, as if he were looking for sporting equipment and mistakenly found himself in housewares. But it’s not usually that straightforward. Continue reading...

Ever since Stanley Tucci got me into fried courgettes, I’ve been obsessed. And, of all the ways I’ve used them since, this is by far my favourite I had my head turned by fried courgettes while watching Stanley Tucci eat spaghetti alla Nerano (on Searching for Italy). So much so, in fact, that I went so far as to book a table at Lo Scoglio da Tommaso in Nerano while I was in Italy last year, only to be thwarted by a broken-down car. Still in search of the pleasure, my husband, Hugh, made that pasta when we got back home, and we slapped our thighs in amazement that so much flavour and pleasure could be achieved by frying courgettes until bronzed. I’ve been using them in all sorts of ways ever since and this is hands down my favourite. Continue reading...

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