Rakewell

Swallows and Amazons for ever!

Rakewell is lured back to childhood by the promise of Swallows and Amazons memorabilia and mischief at Windermere Jetty Museum

14 Aug 2020

Art the drive-in – the museum turned motorcade in Rotterdam

The Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam has launched a drive-thru exhibition – and it’s not the only culture you can see by car this summer, says Rakewell

7 Aug 2020
Pablo Picasso at his home and studio in Mougins, south of France, on October 13, 1971. Photo: Ralph Gatti/AFP via Getty Images

Dressing for a pandemic, Picasso-style

The future of fashion may not be the most pressing concern but it’s hard not to fear the worst

31 Jul 2020

Goya for gastronomes – and Donald Trump

The Trumps have a soft spot for Goya Foods, it seems – which sets Rakewell wondering whether the brand could make more of its painterly associations

24 Jul 2020
A crop circle in a cornfield near Raisting in southern Germany, in July 2014. Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA/AFP via Getty Images

Field work – is it time Mike Leigh made a film about crop circles?

Film fans can only hope that the director will turn his interest in these mysterious patterns to practical effect

17 Jul 2020

Pray silence for… the return of roller coasters

Rakewell celebrates the return of roller coasters – with no screaming allowed – by looking back at some of the earliest white knuckle rides

10 Jul 2020
Illustration from c. 1628.

Pinting by numbers – a paean to the pub

While Apollo’s roving correspondent is more than ready to go to the pub, he can’t help wondering if it will all end in Hogarthian tears

3 Jul 2020

Obstructing views of Tower Bridge

A development that would have impinged on Tower Bridge has landed Robert Jenrick in hot water – so Rakewell digs up some classic views of the landmark

26 Jun 2020

George Eliot and the monuments madmen

The statue of George Eliot in Nuneaton has attracted some unlikely ‘defenders’

16 Jun 2020

Winston Churchill in a box

Churchill’s statue on Parliament Square is currently boxed up but, given his attitude to portraits, perhaps Churchill himself wouldn’t mind

12 Jun 2020
Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve.

I spy with my little eye… a cultural tour of Killing Eve

What is it about art and espionage? The spies and assassins of BBC America’s hit show have sophisticated tastes in meeting venues

4 Jun 2020
The Right Honourable Chris Grayling MP has been appointed a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, London

Chris Grayling, culture vulture – and NPG trustee

The former transport secretary has been appointed as a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery – so he must be a museum fanatic, right?

29 May 2020

Peter Crouch, Michelangelo and the Sixteen Chapel

The former England striker is keen to stage an exhibition of photos of Roy Keane – and has strong opinions about the arrogance of most art galleries

22 May 2020
Peter Sellers holding a bust of himself.

The punchy paintings of Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers gave action painting a new spin in a sketch with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in 1965

16 May 2020
After a day crammed with videocalls.

The museums offering remedies for Zoom gloom

Fed up with video calls, Rakewell finds light relief in teleporting himself (if only) to Waddesdon Manor and the Met

7 May 2020

Performing Dr. Seuss – from Michelle Obama to Dr. Dre

Celebrities have often performed Dr. Seuss to kids to extol the benefits of reading – but should they have rapped through the books instead?

1 May 2020

The card lads of German football

The fans of Borussia Mönchengladbach are to make up for closed stadiums by attending matches in the form of cardboard cutouts

28 Apr 2020
Lovejoy

How Apollo made its mark on Lovejoy

Your favourite art magazine has been spotted in the vintage BBC comedy-drama – though always in the hands of dodgy antiques dealers

24 Apr 2020

Homeschooling with Danny Dyer

BBC Bitesize has announced that Danny Dyer and Sergio Agüero are among the celebrities joining its homeschooling programme. But who’s going to teach art?

21 Apr 2020

A cultural tour of Jon Snow’s bookshelves

Rakewell has been eyeing up the broadcaster’s learned library while watching Channel 4 News

17 Apr 2020

Curatorial cocktails at the Frick

The curators at the Frick are to brighten up cocktail hour in Manhattan – and Rakewell is already pouring himself a drink

9 Apr 2020

Homemade masterworks – from the sublime to the ridiculous

With oodles of toilet paper and canned fish, it seems anyone can recreate an artistic masterpiece at home

1 Apr 2020

Au revoir, Albert Uderzo – on Asterix in different tongues

Rakewell bids farewell to the co-creator of Asterix by taking a tour through his characters – and how their names have shifted in translation

27 Mar 2020

The Courtauld quizzers come a cropper

After a solid run on University Challenge, the Courtauld team met its match in Jesus College, Oxford – and too many questions about art history

19 Mar 2020