Top 10sBooksFrom Douglas Adams to Oliver Sacks, the standup comedian reveals some of the writers that have helped him try to work out what makes us tick Most of my standup shows, whether about the behaviour of the bonobo ape or my addiction to celebrity narrowboat TV shows, are really me trying to work out what it is to be human and trying to see how wrong I am getting it.
OpinionSoccer This article is more than 12 years oldThe 'gay for Thierry Henry' outpouring heralds a new opennessThis article is more than 12 years oldPaul FlynnAfter Henry's skilful homecoming, fans said they would 'go gay' for him. Isn't it time football bodies stopped playing it straight?If Thierry Henry's return to the Arsenal playing field was evidence of the Beautiful Game fulfilling its mythological title, the fans' reaction was a surprisingly transparent testament to the Beautiful Man at the centre of it.
ExhibitionsA new exhibition explores how glasses have played a part in film narratives – and their journey from geek prop to urban must-have Once upon a time, not too long ago in cinematic history, there was an easy way to make a Hollywood star instantly less attractive: put them in glasses. Think Cary Grant as the palaeontologist in Bringing Up Baby; Donna Reed as the librarian in It’s a Wonderful Life; Bette Davis as a repressed spinster in Now, Voyager.
UK newsWhales' ancestor was a wolf in hippo's clothingIt ran like a wolf. It waded like a hippopotamus. It put its ear to the ground to hear distant rumbles. It had the ankles of a cow. But above all, it had the ear bones of a whale. In a find that matches the discovery of archaeopteryx - one of the great missing links of evolution - researchers in Pakistan have unearthed many of the bones of the 50m-year-old Pakicetus attocki, a land-dwelling, estuary-wading, meat-eating ancestor of the whale.
The autocomplete questionsCats This article is more than 5 years oldWhy are kittens so cute? You asked Google – here's the answerThis article is more than 5 years oldDean BurnettEvery day millions of people ask Google life’s most difficult questions. Our writers answer some of the commonest queries A few months ago, my family and I went to a nearby cat rescue shelter to get a kitten. There were five in the available litter to choose from, but as we were watching them play, one of the two tabbies boldly decided to scale a nearby sack of bedding, then promptly fell in head-first and couldn’t get out.