The Last Laugh
Fawlty Towers could never be made today. But 47 years after it premiered, the show still perfectly captures a certain type of small-minded, social-climbing, xenophobic Englishman who is now all but extinct
House and Gargoyle
With busts of Greek gods and gold-inlaid light switches, interior design for the modern autocrat is all about excess and intimidation
Micky Burn
The W.W. II British P.O.W. saved the life of a girl who became one of Hollywood’s greatest leading ladies
Great Sakharov’s Ghost
By seeking to destroy Alexei Navalny, Putin is repeating the mistakes his K.G.B. predecessors made with the dissident nuclear scientist
A Friend Among Spies
For 60 years, real-life spy turned author John le Carré wrote elegant best-sellers that used the world of espionage to expose the complexities of human nature
The Game Is Afoot
Netflix and the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle are butting heads over Sherlock Holmes’s true identity
The Making of a Madam
Growing up, Ghislaine Maxwell was envied, admired, and teased, but what made her conspire with Jeffrey Epstein for decades?
Lessons of the Spanish Flu
What can we learn from the 20th century’s deadliest virus outbreak?
Have a Seat!
The naughty French love chair designed for Edward VII to facilitate a threesome
Putin on the Ritz
To understand Russia’s leader, go back to Stalin
All Fact-Checked on the Western Front
How much in Sam Mendes’s film 1917 is actually true?
Boris-Ripper
Britain’s new prime minister wrote a comic novel with racy language and racial slights
