Rumours

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Lord Denning’s report on the Profumo Affair was published fifty years this week. Though dismissed as a government whitewash, its steamy topic made this official enquiry an unlikely bestseller.  At the same time, a very different version was unfolding in the pages of a new satirical magazine, Private Eye. This is the subject of Colin Shindler’s radio play, Rumours. Continue reading

The Art of Witchcraft

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Lachlan Goudie, son of the Scottish figurative painter Alexander Goudie, is an artist himself. In 1999, Alexander finished a cycle of paintings based on Robert Burns’ 1791 narrative poem, Tam o’ Shanter, about a farmer led astray by a young and beautiful witch, Nannie Dee. He was strongly influenced by the work of Albrecht Dürer and Francisco Goya. Continue reading

Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait

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The Jewish Museum is nestled in the heart of Camden Town. Born just a few tube stations away, Amy Winehouse moved to bohemian Camden when she was just 17, staying until her death in 2011. She was nicknamed the ‘Queen of Camden’, but her family origins in North London’s Jewish community are less celebrated. Continue reading

Scandal ’63

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Scandal ’63, currently a wall display in Room 32 of London’s National Portrait Gallery, takes its name (and logo) from journalist Clive Irving’s account of the Profumo Affair, published fifty years ago. Continue reading