Boris-Ripper
Britain’s new prime minister wrote a comic novel with racy language and racial slights
All Fact-Checked on the Western Front
How much in Sam Mendes’s film 1917 is actually true?
Putin on the Ritz
To understand Russia’s leader, go back to Stalin
Have a Seat!
The naughty French love chair designed for Edward VII to facilitate a threesome
Lessons of the Spanish Flu
What can we learn from the 20th century’s deadliest virus outbreak?
The Making of a Madam
Growing up, Ghislaine Maxwell was envied, admired, and teased, but what made her conspire with Jeffrey Epstein for decades?
The Game Is Afoot
Netflix and the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle are butting heads over Sherlock Holmes’s true identity
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
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
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
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
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
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Based on the best-selling book of the same name, and with unprecedented access to secret military archives, a new BBC drama tells how a group of maverick officers formed the S.A.S. in the darkest days of World War II
The Phantom of the Royal Opera
There’s a reason J.R. Moehringer, who has ghosted memoirs for Andre Agassi and Phil Knight, was paid seven figures for the Prince Harry job
Running Target
In the 1930s, Nazis tried to kill All Quiet on the Western Front. A new screen adaptation, in theaters now, proves its longevity
Moment of Truth
Do historical films and TV programs need to be accurate?
The Perfect Spy
Newly declassified files offer a rare glimpse into the mind of Kim Philby, a K.G.B. mole within M.I.6 who was arguably Britain’s greatest traitor
