2008 in reviewLife and styleFrom the election of Barack Obama to economic meltdown, from the Beijing Olympics to the Baby P trial, Decca Aitkenhead recalls the year's best and worst times'It has been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America." When Ohio had swung to the Democrats hours earlier that November 4th night, Barack Hussein Obama had quietly turned to his campaign manager.

Fashion blogFashionA brief history of OlaySixty years ago Graham Wulff invented a thick pink liquid which he named 'beauty fluid'. Now someone buys the brand's moisturiser every two minutesWhat's the story?Sixty years old this year, Olay started life in a South African lab by an ex-Unilever employee called Graham Wulff. Oil of Olay was originally a thick pink liquid which was marketed as an anti-ageing 'beauty fluid'. In the 1970s the range expanded to include all manner of skincare products, and the company was bought by Procter & Gamble in the mid-80s.

The Piers (sunbathing platform with Tava mural) Photograph: Courtesy of The Alvin Baltrop TrustThe Piers (sunbathing platform with Tava mural) Photograph: Courtesy of The Alvin Baltrop TrustPhotographyThe Bronx-born photographer captured gay culture on the outskirts in 70s Manhattan and his work is finally receiving the attention it deserves Bronx-born photographer Alvin Baltrop spent days on end documenting gay life at the piers lining Manhattan’s west side. At times, he did so while living in a van.

Australian musicIt wouldn’t be an Aussie Xmas without sun, prawns and native birds. Perhaps too many native birds. Patrick Lenton investigates Coming back to Australia after doing most of my primary school years overseas involved a couple of moments of cultural discord – chief among them the bizarre, almost organic stage-musical moment of watching everyone suddenly break into The Nutbush, unrehearsed. But nothing has ever made me feel truly like I’m living in a strange make-believe country than when I first heard an Australian Christmas carol.

ObituaryCliff AdamsHis Singers are still on the air every Sunday, 42 years after their debutIn the late 1950s, Cliff Adams, who has died aged 78, became a household name on British radio - first through his work with the vocal group the Stargazers, before founding the Cliff Adams Singers. As rock and roll began to dominate the airwaves of America, Adams's work, with its smooth, melodic and unruffled sound, fitted a still nostalgic British post-war musical atmosphere.