Arts

In 1968, the BBC broadcast extracts from JRR Tolkien's last ever recorded interview, 31 years after The Hobbit was published. In 2019, the full video was unearthed from the archive.

The glitzy pianist, who famously hid his sexuality, was dismissed as a "vulgar joke" in his lifetime. But a new play gets to the truth of who he was, in private as well as in public.

Known as the "apostle to the apostles”, the controversial and multifaceted saint Mary Magdalene is shrouded in mythology and mystery. What do these artworks reveal about her?

Although Barbara Cartland sold around 750 million books, you'd struggle to find a copy in a bookshop today. Why has the UK's master of romantic fiction disappeared from memory?

Allan Ginsberg's graphic verse had a seismic effect on American society. When two people were put on trial for selling it, the judgement was a landmark moment in loosening censorship.

By sticking a banana to a wall with duct tape and calling it art, Maurizio Cattelan created one of the greatest cultural debates of recent times.

Controversy is swirling around Rachel Cusk's new novel and its movie-star protagonist named "M". Why the fuss – and could the character be based on Natalie Portman?