Other livesPhotographyObituaryMike Russell obituaryMy friend Mike Russell, who has died from cancer aged 57, was one of the pioneers of digital photography in the UK. His love affair with photography was prompted by seeing the 1966 film Blow-Up, which featured David Hemmings rolling around with fashion models and a Nikon camera. This struck him at the time as a career path worth further investigation. Mike grew up in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and, having graduated in photography from the Central London Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster) in 1976, he soon established himself as one of London's leading fashion and still-life photographers.

Book of the dayScience and nature booksReviewDavid George Haskell’s often wonderful book explores some of the lost frequencies of nature – heard clearly again during Covid’s initial human hush Lockdown was, among other things, a sudden collective experiment in volume control. Sound waves from the regular rush-hour thrum of cities usually penetrate more than a kilometre below the Earth’s surface. When Covid-19 forced humans inside, seismologists noticed the muzak of their subterranean instruments was quieted.

Newspapers & magazinesZeta Jones wedding photos 'sold to porn magazine'Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas sold their wedding pictures to a pornographer who sold them on to a raunchy Scandinavian magazine, it was alleged at the high court today. At the start of Day 18 of the Hollywood stars' lawsuit against Hello! magazine for publishing sneak pictures of their wedding, OK!'s publisher, Northern & Shell, came under fire. James Price QC, representing Hello!

OpinionChristmas This article is more than 10 years oldChristmas is ruined by childrenThis article is more than 10 years oldTrevor MitchellOur over-indulgent society has turned children into greedy little emperors. Thank Santa I can look forward to a Christmas with adultsChristmas is conflated with a lot of things these days, but perhaps the most fallacious of all the Christmas myths we blindly buy into is the one that proclaims that it's all about the children.

The ObserverFashionAhead of London fashion week, the gender-fluid designer talks about glue guns, pop stars and courting controversy in Vogue Before anyone had heard of the designer Harris Reed, they had seen his suit in Vogue. Or was it a dress? A tailored suit with peak shoulders attached to a hoop-skirt draped in tulle and hot pink satin garlands, it was worn in the magazine’s December issue not by a Hollywood starlet, but by a popstar: Harry Styles.