Out & About

What on earth is the person who comes up with Annabel’s otherworldly facade displays on? London’s most magical Christmas shop displays

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I challenge anyone to find a city that embraces Christmas decorating more than London. Whether it’s the lights, festooning Carnaby Street, Savile Row and Regent Street, Annabel’s extraordinary façade designs — which must require a serious amount of engineering — or imaginative window displays designed to tempt you in to shop, the capital just does … Read more

Farmers of Britain, go forth and grow prawns

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Farmers could soon be growing prawns in their fields in a bid to diversify income streams, according to a pioneering research project. The UK Sustainable King Prawn Project (UKSKPP), conducted by the University of Exeter, showed that king-prawn aquaculture could have benefits not only for the UK seafood industry, but for farmers and landowners. King … Read more

The golden retriever: The world’s most well-known dog almost didn’t exist at all

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Ahhh the Golden Retriever — the sweet, sincere, butter-would-not-melt angel of a dog. They are, without question, one of the most well known dog breeds in the world. They’ve even carved out a place in modern dating lore via the ‘golden retriever boyfriend’ — the (almost overly) affectionate, subdued, loves-you-so-much type who also manages to … Read more

In search of London’s earliest pint

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The last grocer at Covent Garden packed up his stall in 1973. The flower, fruit and vegetable market, which had operated continuously for centuries, was relocated to Nine Elms after traffic congestion made trading untenable. The site languished for decades before giving way to the smorgasbord of luxury shopping and wine bars we know today, … Read more

Aristotle believed they emerged spontaneously from mud, Sigmund Freud dissected thousands of them and they can dive lower than a nuclear submarine — but what is the truth about the eel?

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Why do we not know — or care — more about the eel? It seems to have an image problem. Even one of its great admirers lists its attributes as being ‘snoutiness, a thick coat of viscous slime and convulsive writhing’. Fishing journalist Tom Fort in his Book of Eels goes on to note its … Read more