Books

One Piece is a global phenomenon but has had only a niche impact on popular culture in the UK. This is surprising given that the ongoing Japanese comic is the world’s best-selling manga and the best-selling comic by volume ever with over 500 million copies sold worldwide In fact, the …

Frederick Forsyth and the novel that made him a star (Image: Getty) I was not long out of school and working on my third unpublished novel when The Day Of The Jackal came out in 1971. It was serialised in the Daily Express and I remember reading the first chapter …

Frederick Forsyth gained fame with The Day of the Jackal, published in 1971 (Image: GETTY) Frederick Forsyth would tell you he got a lucky break with the blockbuster story that made him a household name around the world, but don’t you believe it. Forsyth, who is calling time on his …

He may be best known for a fictional detective haunted by the disappearance of his wife, but dognapping rather than kidnapping drives Peter James’ latest book. The best-selling author will talk about the “horrific” rise in dog thefts alongside an RSPCA officer at a book festival in London. The creator …

James Hanratty (Image: Handout) James Hanratty walked the few steps from his condemned cell to the gallows just across the prison landing. A hood was draped over his head, and a noose slipped around his neck. Executioner Harry Allen pulled the lever, sending the 25-year-old Londoner plunging eight feet. Minutes …

A top children’s author has waded into the woke book editing row that’s seen favourite kids’ stories revised to avoid offending people. Dame Jacqueline Wilson has revealed that she is “very against” editing classic text so that they fit with a more woke agenda and the sensitivities of modern audiences. …

William Shakespeare’s First Folio (Image: Getty) To be, or not to be… the most famous writer of all time. When it comes to William Shakespeare, that is not the question. The love that endures for England’s national poet, the son of a humble glove maker from the West Midlands, really …

Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer (Image: ) The summer blockbuster film Oppenheimer has given millions a fresh understanding of how and why America raced to develop atom bombs, ultimately bringing an end to World War Two. Director Christopher Nolan’s epic concentrates on the turbulent life of theoretical physicist J. …

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart at a party, 1951 (Image: Getty) Squinting through narrowed eyes beneath a fedora, a cigarette hanging from his thin lips, his world-weary expression forged by hard liquor and hard-bitten women in smoke-filled bars, Humphrey Bogart was Hollywood’s iconic tough guy. In classic movies from The …

Ambrose Parry: Marisa Haetzman and Chris Brookmyre (Image: ) Smothering a victim’s face with a chloroform-doused rag is favoured by filmmakers and writers as a dramatic way to knock out a character fast…which irritates anaesthetist-turned-novelist Marisa Haetzman, as science has long proven this to be complete nonsense. “It takes about …