Mussolini hated pasta and Hitler, famously a vegetarian, liked to eat baby pigeons. A new book tells us what tyrants liked for tea. John Walsh reports.

Linda Herrick delves into four new cookbooks that transport the palate around the globe.

One of the immutable laws of television is that there can never be too many cooking shows.

Canvas magazine interviewed a wide range of Kiwis this year, take a look back at some of them in these great reads from the past year.

One white, one red and one in-between wine from three producers who have managed to capture the flavours of summer perfectly.

Euro has gone healthy and it’s better than ever.

Naomi Campbell is as well known for her fiery temper as she is for her supermodel status. But Jo Piazza meets an older, wiser — and calmer — Campbell, who these days is focused on fighting Ebola rather than throwing phones at her assistants.

His child’s first day of school hit Alan Perrott harder than he expected. Here, he reflects on the joy — and pain — of watching his sons grow, and letting go (just a little bit).

What’s not to love about summer? But the sunny season can be so much more than an endless round of beaches and barbecues. Here are 25 ideas for making this one truly memorable.

If you write a sex scene, no one believes it’s fiction, writes Jon Stock.

From crack addiction to blockbusters, Tom Hardy’s path to stardom has been an unconventional one. He still thrives on dysfunction, he tells Matt Mueller.

Do you want to build a global phenomenon? That’s exactly what Disney did with its stratospherically successful animated film, Frozen. Kat Brown explains what went so right.

With a new novel out, and a potential film finally on the horizon, Patricia Cornwell tells Judith Woods how Dr Kay Scarpetta was held hostage by Hollywood.

Neil Gaiman’s latest fantasy is an attempt to restore to fairy tales some of the danger the Grimm brothers removed. Gaby Wood reports.

"Short stories don't sell," is the current mantra of publishers everywhere, as a way of refusing to look at proffered manuscripts in case they love them and are sorely tempted.

Some Luck is the first volume of Pulitzer Prize-winner Jane Smiley’s trilogy set in the Iowa badlands. Boyd Tonkin reports.

On the day after the birth of his son who wasn't really his son, Joseph the carpenter watched the sun come up over the little town of Bethlehem.

More than 125 gifts for him and for her, for girls, boys and difficult teens, for foodies and home-improvers, and for those who are hard to buy for.

Cool kids know what’s up for summer.

On the back of particularly bad music review, by Simon Sweetman, James Griffin asks the question: why do some people hate the ukulele so much?

Bette Midler talks frankly to Bryony Gordon about sex, self-respect and survival.