June 27 | 2022

I’m spending £4,000 on

weddings this summer . . .
. . . and I’m not even getting married
The eye-watering cost of the post-pandemic marriage boom
2 Monday June 27 2022 | the times

times2

John Lewis is doing

Eight weddings,
Travel, gifts, outfits . . . I love my friends
Botox? I should know but their nuptials may bankrupt me.
better, but I’m tempted Thanks to the pandemic, this year is
Kevin Maher worse than ever, says Sidonie Wilson

‘I
t’s wedding season.” If I had
Botox used to be a taboo f side effects, no matter
for a pound for every time
subject, so the joke goes. how
h rare, is always going someone said those words in My final bill for
Now when you mention to
t be intimidating. Botox response to my moaning
it nobody even raises an can
c apparently come with about heading off for yet wedding season
eyebrow (ba-dum, tish!). headaches,
h dry eyes, another set of nuptials, I Foreign travel............................................£550
A sign, however, of just excessive
e tears (when you might actually be able to Train fares..................................................£300
how normalised it has get
g the bill?) and even, in afford all the train fares I’m
become to inject your extremely
e infrequent forking out on. (£98 to Somerset with Accommodation.....................................£600
face with a flaccid circumstances,
c loss of a railcard — really?) Outfits..........................................................£500
paralysis-causing bladder
b control (do you I’m 29: peak “wedding season” age. Hair and beauty.......................................£100
neurotoxic protein is the pee
p yourself when you Add the post-pandemic calendar Gifts...............................................................£800
news that John Lewis will look
lo into the mirror?). squeeze for those that had to be Five hen weekends..............................£1,250
soon be offering Botox And
A then, of course, rearranged, plus the new engagements
treatments in six of its there’s
t Simon Cowell. No, this year from the friends who were hit TOTAL.....................................................£4,100
nationwide stores. Even he’s
h not a side effect but a hard by lockdown love, and I can’t
better, the sessions will self-confessed
s former foresee a quiet weekend until October of my school friends are already
allegedly be offered in Botox
B user who recently at the earliest. In all, I have eight hitched or engaged, my university
bulk-buy deals for the admitted
a that he had weddings and five hen do’s — a friends were taking things more
cash-conscious consumer. “gone
“ a bit too far” with millennial’s answer to the next slowly . . . until a recent group skiing
Like snapping up Papa Smurf in leathers.
leathers Removing
Remo i the
h facial
f jabs and had ended up Richard Curtis film. trip when a rugby lad proposed
multipacks of Snickers bars or the stubble, alas, has revealed looking “like something out of a A recent study by Plusnet showed slope-side. Ever since, the boys
Mini Cheddars, an advanced some heretofore hidden surface horror film”. And he’s right. The that we spend an average of £649.50 have been dropping to their knees like
order of three Botox treatments damage. I have ghastly laughter Cowell brow had become so on our friends’ weddings. I’ll be lucky flies. My brother, who is three years
(for £895), spread out over a year lines, like two long scarified smooth, yet so thickened and if one doesn’t cost me closer to £1,000; older than me, has 14 weddings this
and including jabs to key target brackets, on either side of my immobile, that he had unwittingly forget keeping it under three zeroes if year alone (and has started to turn
areas such as mouth, jaw and mouth! The buggers had been adopted the look of Boris Karloff’s you’re a bridesmaid. some down). He recently flew to
chin, can apparently save wrinkly hiding for half a decade under classic square-headed monster in OK, maybe I didn’t need to spend Bermuda for a two-day ceremony.
faced customers as much as £290, an increasingly snowy goatee, Frankenstein — albeit one with a £400 on a last-minute Zimmermann A couple of weeks ago I was on the
while packages of fillers and and now they’re out and proud, deeper tan and higher waistband. dress from Net-a-Porter for a verge of a WhatsApp meltdown. One
Botox will cost up to £1,295. and clearly craving a hefty I’ve seen Botox on men up forthcoming wedding in Ibiza. But I group chat was asking for £150 for a
I normally scoff at the seeming punishment shot of Botulinum close. And it never quite works. am going to what will be an incredibly friend’s 30th in January, another for
inanity of the cosmetics industry toxin. I could easily fit it in some There’s a glassy sheen that’s chic do for one of my close school £200 towards accommodation for a
but I must admit that the bargain lunchtime, while out shopping for impossible to shake. Plus, it is a friends and I’m feeling the pressure to wedding in December. A friend chased
grabbed my attention (I enjoy the cheaper berries. truth universally acknowledged look the part. me twice in one week to cough up
discount shelf in Sainsbury’s for Plus my forehead has seen that the more cosmetic While this is a self-inflicted add-on £100 for a hen do that’s happening
the same reason). As someone better days, and has accumulated procedures you administer to (don’t get me started on what to wear next summer, and this is just a
who is refusing to fill up his petrol an impressive array of vertical middle-aged men the more they to the pool party on day two) — as is deposit — we are likely to be paying
tank, has unplugged the tumble lines, all of which seem to stream begin to look like strange old the gel mani (£35), pedi (£35) and at least £300 more for the country
dryer and has officially neatly towards my overcrowded ladies. There are, in fact, rich balayage top-up appointments (£200) house getaway.
abandoned organic blueberries glabella, like myriad train tracks enclaves around the world — it’s all part of the “attending a It’s not that I don’t want to go on a
(£4 a punnet? No thanks!), I like funnelling into Paddington (especially, in my experience, Los wedding” package, which usually also fun weekend to celebrate my friend’s
the idea of pocketing a clean Station. It means that my resting Angeles and the south of France) includes travel, accommodation, an impending monogamy by drinking
£290. Plus, even more face has the appearance of that support an entire genus of extravagant present and a hen do. I’ve through a willy straw; it’s that this is
importantly, I’ve reached that age. someone struggling with an wealthy older men who can be spent more than £600 already, and one of about nine WhatsApp groups
What age? Ye know, that age? especially tricky crossword clue found in beach front bars boasting I’ve not even made it to the church. called “XXXX’s HEN” popping off on
I’ve started shaving, for or the prospect of discussing an appearance best described as The three-day Balearic bonanza my phone. At least on the hen do’s I
instance, clean shaving (with a gender identity with teenagers. Miss Marple in a wind tunnel. will set me back another couple of can cosy up with a girlfriend in a
blade) for the first time in five Again, a lunchtime appointment, Then again, and despite all that, hundred pounds with flights, taxis, shared room. But for the weddings,
years. I do this because my a few little pricks (I’m sure the the £290 bargain saving is still food and drink alone (the couple because I’m single I have no one with
stubble is almost entirely white, doctors are lovely), and it’s all tempting. I should probably just are very kindly covering the whom to split the cost of three days’
and so what was once a over. So what’s stopping me? have the Botox, and then I can accommodation). accommodation in the Cotswolds.
rough’n’ready Faith-era George Well, there’s the obvious. I’m a always use the bonus cash to buy Oh, and add another hundred for And I haven’t even got round to
Michael look has morphed into hypochondriac, so the potential a lifetime supply of paper bags. the wedding present, because I thinking about the wedding
couldn’t possibly choose the next summer in the south
cheapest item on the list. Don’t of France . . .
£140.85, which caused appalled by the “Everyone! Listen to be fooled by the usual £48 set Is it all worth it? Actually,
outraged critics and overhyped enthusiasm me! You’ve paid a of 24 mini spice-cupboard much as it might surprise
Zero stars commentators to of the play’s audience. hundred quid for these Kilner jars — those are red you, yes. To be clear, I
accuse producers of Straight lines were tickets! That means herrings. moan but I cannot wait
for theatre “misjudging the mood” greeted with that this theatre should A few weeks after my to be part of my closest
of the public and superfluous giggles. be giving you one Ibiza trip, I have a hen friends’ celebrations.
audiences squeezing them for Others with delighted hundred pounds worth do on another Spanish And I will be crying
every available penny. gasps. And whenever of quality. It doesn’t island. Accommodation — not just from the
It happens every year. I’m not so sure. In fact Mark Rylance said the mean that you now is also kindly covered eye-watering expense
The theatre bible I blame the public, not word “bollocks” the have to deliver one (I’m very grateful) but — so, dear friends,
The Stage surveys the the producers. I can’t audience erupted into hundred pounds worth I’m still budgeting at please don’t erase me
cost of ticket prices, abide going to the paroxysms of dry- of hernia-inducing least £300 (without from your guest lists
produces eye-watering theatre because of the throated laughter. It appreciation. Let the flights) for meals, jjust yet.
results, chaos ensues public and the grimly was so distressing that play do the work! And drinks and boat trips. Plus, I’ll get my own back.
and fingers are duly sycophantic and self- I contemplated leaving if it doesn’t work Most of the rest of this Next year I’m planning to
pointed at the industry. conscious way they halfway, but stayed don’t come again! summer’s festivities are throw a huge — and very
This year the average often approach the because the ticket cost At least until they UK-based but they still expensive — 30th birthday
cost of the most stage experience. I £95. I really wanted to lower their prices!” add up. And I can expect party. I’m expecting at least
expensive ticket price went to see Jerusalem stand up in the stalls, Still, most people had more of this in the Sidonie Wilson 30 matching Kilner jars as
had jumped up to last month and was turn around and say, a great night. coming years. While most one present.
the times | Monday June 27 2022 3

times2

five hens, RIP bank balance COVER AND BELOW: GETTY IMAGES
The lowdown
Lenny Kravitz’s
Don’t call me trailer
‘Bridezilla’. Fancy taking a day trip to the beach
with me in a camper van?

(Please?) Absolutely not. I had way too many

disastrous holidays in camper vans as
By Hannah Rogers a child. The loo didn’t flush and the
roof leaked — not pleasant.

T
housands of pounds, three
countries, planes, trains,
ferries and rented
automobiles — welcome
to my year in weddings and
hen do’s.
I am 29 years old, just entering the
phase where a considerable chunk
of my annual leave and salary is
siphoned off in aid of celebrating the
nuptials of others. One moment your
Sunday-night Instagram feed is full of
blurry, drunk selfies; the next, polished
engagement and wedding pictures.
It happens in such a way that you
are sure it must be catching; that your
friends are in the grip of a pandemic.
I have attended three weddings
already in 2022 and have seven more
to go. I have been on one hen do and
have another three in September and
October (so far).
If you think that’s bad, know that
I’ve got off lightly. Just one of the
weddings was abroad, ditto one hen.
A friend of mine spent £5,000 on
celebrating nuptials abroad last year.
In Tuscany, where we celebrated the
marriage of two dear friends a few
weeks ago, it was the car rental, not
the flights or hotels, that took us by
surprise: £100 a day. I get to split the
cost with my partner — a luxury.
I should add that I am contributing
2021, only to have 30 drop out in the to this pricey circus of joy: my hen is
Our wedding days leading up to it because they
had tested positive for the virus.
in October; my wedding, December.
We have tried to keep costs as low as
reports tell The bride was so convinced she
would catch it that she factored in
possible, but I’m not stupid. We are
getting married in Dorset — that
the story a two-week break between her
wedding and her honeymoon in case
she or her new husband needed time
means the price of trains, taxis and
extortionate petrol, maybe even car
rental, for a start.
By Anna Temkin to recover from it (fortunately neither
of them did).
We have reserved all the local hotel
rooms at competitive rates, but guests
Camper vans have had a glam
upgrade since your day, love.
Haven’t you heard that A-listers
love them?
I don’t believe you. I can’t imagine
Hollywood stars piling into a
caravan, cracking open a packet of
Hula Hoops and a Curly Wurly.
Trust me, they do. For one
thing, the ultimate rock god
Lenny Kravitz has a trailer in
the Caribbean.
What makes Lenny Kravitz’s trailer
so deluxe then?
Kravitz has been living the simple
life in the Bahamas for the past few
years, growing his own food and
being terribly wholesome in his
trailer. When he gave Men’s Health
a tour of it, he showed off his
vacuuming skills and said: “It feels
really good to be constricted to a
small space like that. My trailer is
on the beach in the Bahamas. It is a
little Airstream trailer, and it’s this
just cosy safe womb.”
Like living in a womb? Sounds
um . . . snug. I’m still not sold on
the glamour.
What if I told you Kravitz lent the
place to the singer Taylor Swift and
her boyfriend Joe Alwyn? They
were photographed canoodling in
the ocean there last week and you
can spot Kravitz’s silver Airstream
trailer in the back.
Well, you know how much I love
belting out Taylor Swift’s songs. And
I quite fancied Joe in that BBC show
Conversations with Friends.

H
ow many weddings is too
many? The combination
of nuptials delayed by the
pandemic and couples who
have recently become
engaged has made 2022 a bumper year
for weddings. Before Covid-19 came
into the equation, about 280,000
weddings took place in the UK
each year. In 2022 there will be
approximately 350,000, according to
the UK Weddings Task Force, which
was set up to represent the industry
amid the disruption of the pandemic.
The Times weekly weddings page,
which I edit, offers first-hand evidence
of the sheer number of couples who
had to rearrange their nuptials
repeatedly over the past two years —
some three times, others as many as
four times. The cycle of lockdowns
and uncertainty meant that many had
to make do with “virtual tours” to
choose their wedding venues, in
between countless changes to the
rules for throwing parties.
Months after the third lockdown in
the UK, with Covid disappearing
further and further in the rear-view
mirror, one couple interviewed by
The Times had invited 140 guests to
their ceremony on New Year’s Eve
You can understand why couples no
longer having to grapple with guest
restrictions and travel bans are
overlooking the big bills that come
with big celebrations. Among my peer
group of early thirtysomethings we’ve
accrued invitations to France, Italy,
Greece, the Netherlands, Israel, the
UAE and Kenya. Hefty air fares are
par for the course in the world of
post-pandemic nuptials. Research by
Last Verdict, a lifestyle and product
review blog, showed the average cost
of just attending a wedding has risen
to £541. For bridesmaids and best men,
it’s closer to £850.
I’ll be a guest at three this summer
alone — including one in Paris,
depending on the impact of strike
action on the exorbitantly priced
Eurostar — but that pales in
comparison with some of my friends:
one has eight, another 11 and another
— wait for it — 16. “I’ve just been to
five weddings in four weeks,” my
friend Suzanne, 31, tells me with
characteristic joie de vivre. It brings to
mind Four Weddings and a Funeral,
which Richard Curtis said he was
inspired to write after realising he
had attended roughly 65 weddings
by the age of 34.
will still have to pay for them, probably
for two nights. Then there is the
I can’t promise you it will be a
wedding gift (which they don’t need
love nest like Taylor and Joe’s,
to buy, but are likely to out of social
but how about that trip to
embarrassment) and all of the fanfare
Brighton in the van then?
that goes with getting trussed up —
outfits, blow-dries and manicures. Brighton isn’t the Bahamas. No.
My hen do is one day in London. On Just no.
this, I was adamant. I wanted to keep Georgina Roberts
the cost of celebrating me as low as
possible. I’ve been told horror stories
of “hot hens” and “cold hens”, where
the bride wants four days in Portugal
and a weekend in Edinburgh. I did not
want to be her, nor the bride in Dolly
Alderton’s novel Ghosts, who forces
her friends to make collages of her.
Really, I did not want to be the bride
everyone bitches about on separate
WhatsApp groups when they get the
I don’t bill. The problem is that when I think
about the ideal party with my 30 hens
want to be — a boozy lunch, possibly followed by
the bride a trip to Abba Voyage, Magic Mike or
some other kind of incredibly silly
everyone activity — I concede it may well not
end up being that cheap for them at
bitches all. My bridesmaids have dubbed it
“Hannah-ween” (it is on October 29)
about on and for some reason I can picture
myself wearing a tiara. I am really
WhatsApp looking forward to it.
4 Monday June 27 2022 | the times
times2
A fatal attraction
— the power of
President Putin’s
personality cult
While he stoked up his public image, the body count
of his critics grew. In an exclusive extract from his
new book, Philip Short charts Putin’s inexorable rise
D
uring Putin’s second
term, his view of his
status and role as
head of state had
altered. When a
journalist asked him
whether he trusted
other leaders, he
replied: “You can’t ask a question like
that to someone at my level. How can
I trust or not trust someone else?
I trust only myself.” It was the
loneliness of a monarch. “He trusts
no one, not even his own people,” said aid
his old acquaintance the film-makerr
Igor Shadkhan, who felt that he wass
becoming estranged even from
those who had formerly been close
to him.
Early on, a personality cult
had started to build. A factory
in Chelyabinsk, in the Urals,
which used to make watches
with a portrait of Stalin, began
manufacturing Putin watches and
reported a huge demand. Busts
and badges appeared. An annual
calendar was issued, with a differentt
picture of Putin for each month.
In 2002, an all-girl electro-dance
band, Poyushchie vmeste, “Singing
Together”, recorded A Man like Putin, in,
which topped the Russian charts
for months.
Initially, Putin claimed to see the
cult as a regrettable but unavoidable
consequence of the job. “In our
country, unfortunately,” he said, “this
reflects the general cultural level.
There’s nothing you can do about it.”
By the end of his second term, that
reticence was gone. He was posing,
bare-chested on horseback in the taiga
or swimming across Siberian
rivers, for macho pin-ups which h can never be ccompletely dissociated
made those early calendars
look very modest indeed.
Another factor added to his
isolation. Most leaders have
a family to help them keep
their feet on the ground. In
Putin’s case, by the middle
of his second term, if not
earlier, that was no longer
so. Already in 2003, there
were rumours that his
marriage was on the rocks.
Two years later, Lyudmila
stopped accompanying him
on visits abroad. They were
seen in public together only twice in
the next three years: for Boris Yeltsin’s
funeral, in 2007, and to vote in the
presidential election in March 2008.
By then, their daughters had grown up
and were leading lives of their own.
It had never been a particularly
happy marriage, but the rigours of the
presidency had killed it. Lyudmila had
hated being first lady. A Russian
journalist who watched her during the
Blairs’ visit to St Petersburg, even
Bl
before Putin’s election, had been
be
struck by “her endlessly sad eyes”.
str
In 2005, the Moscow rumour mill
started
st linking Putin’s name
romantically
r with Alina Kabayeva,
a 22-year-old Olympic gold medallist
in rhythmic gymnastics. When,
three
th years later, a Moscow tabloid,
Moskovsky
M korrespondent, finally
dared to publish a story to that
effect,
e adding incorrectly that Putin
was
w planning to marry her, it was
shut
s down within days. There was before and it was consistent with the on completing the 50 laps he had set
“not
“n a word of truth in it”, Putin attitude of a middle-aged man who, himself. “I have to,” Bragin quoted him
insisted. The names of a number of
in fleeing a wearisome marriage, had as saying. “If I don’t keep fit, I won’t be
“successful and beautiful young
“su entered into a relationship with a able to do my work, I won’t be able to
women” had been linked to his, he
wo much younger woman and felt his keep up.”
said. “I like them all, just as I like all
sa spirits lifted. The psychological boost During Putin’s second term, he
Russian women.” As an attempt to
Ru that such a change can produce is not began spending more time at
deflect attention from Kabayeva, it
de limited to private life. Was that one of Bocharov Ruchei, the presidential
was rather lame, for hers was the only
wa the factors which helped to produce retreat in Sochi, a squat, square two-
name that had been mentioned in the
na what appeared, from a Russian storey building in “Stalinist classical”
press. He then denounced “those who, standpoint, to be a more self-confident style, constructed in the 1950s for
with their snotty noses and erotic and forceful approach in foreign Marshal Kliment Voroshilov when he
A huge demand for fantasies, meddle in other people’s policy, but in the West was seen as became head of state after Stalin’s
collectable watches, lives”, before adding, plaintively: more aggressive? death. It was hidden in a wooded park,
above, and other Putin “I know that politicians live in a Putin worked mainly in the Kremlin in the centre of the city, overlooking
memorabilia has glasshouse . . . But all the same, there and from his home at Novo-Ogaryovo. the Black Sea, with a helipad, staff
been reported. Below: are certain limits. There is such a thing When he was not travelling, his day accommodation, a separate residence
traditional tourist dolls as a private life.” started at Novo-Ogaryovo with a for the head of the presidential
Many Russians would sympathise workout for half an hour followed by administration and a guest cottage for
with that. But public and private lives 20 or 30 laps of the Olympic-sized the prime minister. Security was
pool. Whenever possible, he would assured by a double enclosure of
for they are different
dif sides of the same exercise for another hour — either concrete and steel mesh fence,
person. After 2005,
2 for whatever at home after breakfast, which was patrolled by guards and, when Putin
reason, Putin’s behaviour subtly usually kasha, a Russian porridge; or was in residence, a naval frigate
changed. At newsne conferences, he in the gym adjoining his office in the offshore. At dinners with visiting
flirted with the young female Kremlin after lunch, which was often dignitaries, even if there were only
journalists. “Greetings
“G to you and to just kefir, a yoghurt drink, and fruit. three or four people present, both in
all blonde women,”
wo he told one No matter where he was, he said, the Kremlin and at Sochi, Putin’s food
questioner. “What’s that picture he tried to exercise for an hour and and wine were each brought by a
you’ve
you’v got?” he asked a half to two hours a day. Swimming waiter who served him alone. When
another.
ano “Some sort of jolly was an obsession. he travelled abroad, he took with him
picture. And you’re Vladimir Bragin, his former two doctors, a nurse and sometimes a
a blonde, too . . . ” It colleague from the KGB in Dresden, food-taster and a chambermaid with
was hardly sparkling recalled how, during a visit to Sochi, his personal bed linen. His advance
repartee but it was not he tried to persuade him to stop and team would give prior approval for
something he had done come and have a beer. Putin insisted each dish on the banquet menu.
the times | Monday June 27 2022
REUTERS; AP; GETTY IMAGES
The threat of assassination was not
to be taken lightly.
A report compiled by the German
Federal Intelligence Service, the BND,
listed five attempts on Putin’s life after
he became president. The first
allegedly occurred during Anatoly
Sobchak’s funeral in St Petersburg in
February 2000. The second was at
Yalta, in Crimea, where Putin attended
a CIS summit in August of that year.
The Ukrainians announced that they
had expelled four Chechens, whom
they suspected of being involved.
A third attempt, also involving
Chechens, was said to have been
thwarted in Azerbaijan. They had
allegedly planned to set off an
explosion under Putin’s motorcade
when he visited Baku in January 2001.
Britain deported two Russians
suspected of planning to assassinate
Putin during his state visit in June
2003, and another plot was supposedly
uncovered shortly before he visited
Iran in 2007. How serious these
alleged plots were is another matter.
Nezavisimaya gazeta said that the
purported assassination plan in
St Petersburg was probably a PR ploy
to boost interest in the forthcoming
election. The two Russians who were
deported from Britain had visa
violations and were sent home as a
precautionary measure. The supposed
assassination planned in Tehran may
have been a rumour put about by
Mossad to try to persuade Putin to
call off a visit to a state which had
demanded that Israel be wiped off the
face of the earth.
Nevertheless, the continuing
violence in the Caucasus, the
massacres at Dubrovka and Beslan,
and other terrorist attacks showed that
the risk was real.
Putin shrugged off such concerns,
quoting the Russian proverb, “those
who are destined to be hanged are
not going to drown”, meaning that
assassination was probably not his
fate. But his security services were
taking no chances.
If the president was well protected,
others were not so fortunate. In the
1990s, there had been nearly a dozen
high-profile political murders, most of
which remained unsolved. After Putin
took office, the series continued. In
2003, Yuri Shchekochikhin, the deputy
editor of Novaya gazeta who was also
a liberal member of the Duma, died
after a short illness, officially due to
a rare allergy but almost certainly the
result of radioactive poisoning. The
following year, Roman Tsepov, the
head of the Baltik Eskort security
company in St Petersburg, died in
almost identical circumstances. Tsepov
had organised bodyguards for Sobchak
and Putin in the 1990s and had also
acted as a discreet intermediary
between the mayor’s office and
organised crime. Viktor Zolotov, who
went on to become Putin’s chief
bodyguard at the Kremlin, had been
Tsepov’s deputy. His funeral, in
the Serafimovskoe cemetery in
St Petersburg, at which Zolotov
pronounced the eulogy, was attended
by the elite from both sides of the
criminal divide — crime bosses like
Vladimir Kumarin, the head of the
Tambovsky gang, and the FSB and
interior ministry generals whose task
was to fight against them.
Shchekochikhin’s medical records
were sealed. Tsepov’s death was
attributed to an overdose of a drug
used against leukaemia, an illness
from which he did not suffer.
Radioactive poisoning was the
signature of the FSB. In neither case
was any serious effort made to find
out who was responsible.
No charges were brought, either,
against those who organised the
murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the
Novaya gazeta journalist who was shot
dead in the entrance hall of her
apartment block in the autumn of
2006. Five Chechens were eventually
convicted of the crime. But they were
foot soldiers. Those who ordered her
death were never troubled. When she
died, Politkovskaya had been working
on an article about the Kadyrovtsy,
the sadistic paramilitary units loyal to
Chechnya’s 29-year-old leader,
Ramzan Kadyrov, who had recently
been appointed the republic’s prime
minister. Putin remained silent for
three days. When he did speak, not in
Moscow but during a visit to Germany,
he denounced her murder as “a
horribly cruel crime [against] a woman
and a mother” but gave the impression
that the government would investigate
only because it had to. The
perpetrators, “whatever their motives”,
would “naturally” be punished, Putin
said. However, people should realise
that the dead woman’s influence in
Russia was “extremely insignificant,
minimal”, and that “her murder had
caused much more harm and
damage . . . than her articles ever did”.
Left: the president
The day that she was killed,
October 7, was Putin’s 54th birthday.
turns pin-up in 2009.
Top: with Lyudmila
Some wondered whether that date
had been chosen deliberately to point
Putina, then his wife,
in 2012, after his
the finger of suspicion at the Kremlin
— to “create a wave of anti-Russian
third presidential sentiment in the world”, as Putin
inauguration. Above: himself put it. In reality there was a
a journalist protests simpler explanation. Ramzan Kadyrov
about the 2006 murder had offered Politkovskaya’s death to
of Anna Politkovskaya Putin as a birthday present. In
on World Press Chechnya, gestures of that kind were
Freedom Day in immediately understood. Naturally
Rome this year there was no proof that the murder
was organised by Kadyrov’s entourage.
There never is in such cases in Russia.
But, as one of his aides said later, “if
she had trod more cautiously, she
would still be alive”.
Afterwards Putin was at pains to
exculpate the young Chechen leader.
It was “not possible” that he had had
anything to do with her murder, he
said. Politkovskaya’s writings might
well have caused “a certain discontent,
but I cannot imagine that anyone in
Already authority would go so far as to
in 2003, organise such a horrible crime”.
Keeping control of Chechnya was
there were far more important than the murder of
a journalistic gadfly in Moscow. It was
rumours not that the Kremlin issued orders for
the murders of political opponents —
that his at least, not in Putin’s first two terms,
though later that would change.
marriage Liquidating those considered to be
traitors, who had fled abroad, like
was on Aleksandr Litvinenko and the former
Chechen president, Zelimkhan
the rocks Yandarbiyev, was a different matter.
But at home, Putin’s responsibility
was passive. By failing to punish those
who ordered the killing of people
like Anna Politkovskaya and Yuri
Shchekochikhin, he allowed a climate
to develop in which powerful, well-
connected individuals knew that they
could, literally, get away with murder
if they chose. Morally, that made him
© Philip Short as guilty as if he had authorised the
Extracted from Putin killings himself. Contrary to
by Philip Short, to be widespread belief in the West, in these
published by Bodley cases he did not. But the outcome was
Head on June 30 at £30 the same.
5
times2
How Putin
reacted to the
death of his dog
O
ne morning towards the
end of October 1993,
Lyudmila set out from the
dacha at Zelenogorsk in
the family Zhiguli to take
her younger daughter, Katerina, then
aged seven, to a rehearsal for the
school pantomime in which she was
playing Cinderella. When they were
close to Smolny, another vehicle
jumped a red light and smashed into
them. Katerina, who had been asleep
on the back seat, suffered only minor
injuries, but her mother was taken to
the nearest hospital with suspected
spinal fractures.
A normally concerned husband, on
learning that his wife had just had a
serious car accident, would drop
everything and rush off to make sure
that she was all right. Putin did not.
He knew that she had been badly hurt
because that evening Yuri
Shevchenko, the chief surgeon at the
military hospital in St Petersburg,
had telephoned to tell him that
Lyudmila’s injuries were serious. Yet
I looked at him,
and there was
zero emotion
on his face
he stubbornly carried on with his
work. It was not because he did not
care. His daughter, whom he doted
on, had also been in the car. But he
did not break off the talks to go to her
side either. The self-discipline that he
had developed in his childhood had
become a default position. His
response to any untoward event was to
suppress his emotions, wearing an
impenetrable mask behind which
everything was hidden.
Occasionally, for no obvious reason,
his feelings would creep up on him
and take him unawares. Then the
mask would drop.
In the winter of 1994, when Yeltsin
sent the Russian army, largely made
up of untrained conscripts, to
Chechnya to try to suppress the
separatist rebellion there, Putin, as
the deputy mayor responsible for
security affairs, was at the airport
when the first body bags started
coming back from the front. The
German consul, Eberhard von
Puttkamer, who also happened to be
there, was astonished to see that he
was on the verge of tears.
There would be other episodes of
this kind, but they were extremely
rare. More typical was his reaction
when their sheepdog, Malysh,
burrowed beneath the fence of the
dacha and was hit by a passing car. His
secretary went in to tell him that the
dog had been killed. “I looked at him,
and there was zero emotion on his
face,” she said. “I was so surprised by
the lack of any reaction that I couldn’t
contain myself and said, ‘Did someone
already tell you about it?’ He said
calmly, ‘No, you’re the first to tell me.’
And I knew I had made a blunder.”
For years after, he would not get
another dog out of loyalty to Malysh.
But he refused to let it show. It was all
bottled up inside.
6 Monday June 27 2022 | the times
life
Ask Professor Tanya Byron I’m 71 and have always been
plagued by negative thoughts. How can I get rid of them?
N N
I’ve felt for many
years (I’m a 71-year-
Q old male) that I’ve
never had a “good”
day. Recently I had a
five-hour period of
contentment that reaffirmed my
opinion. I was sitting in my easy chair
when I realised I felt differently, that
I was clear-headed, optimistic . . . well,
I had never felt this way. I just felt
really good about the future and that
I was going to accomplish some
things I have wanted to do for years.
I went to bed wondering if I would
awaken feeling well. Amazingly I did.
But after an hour I had negative
thoughts about accomplishing my
goals. The good feeling disappeared
and hasn’t returned.
In my early thirties I was clinically
depressed, quit my job and spent
almost every waking moment
planning my demise. My only relief
came from TV and reading.
Otherwise I was obsessed with
suicide. I saw a psychiatrist and a
psychologist, tried all the drugs and
none of it worked. Somehow I
survived and two years later I
returned to work. I might add that I
was a very unhappy child, angry,
prone to rages that would last for
weeks, not just hours, and that
continued into adulthood despite
marrying and having two kids.
So I feel that none of the
psychotropic drugs nor talk therapy
will help me. Been there, done that.
I’ve read about ketamine altering
people’s brain chemistry. I want to
regain my temporary contentment.
I’ve been afraid to go to a ketamine
clinic (I live in the US), even though I
see it as my only hope.
Today I only feel good when I’m
singing, sleeping or absorbed in
something. I dread going to a
psychiatrist and psychologist and
getting trapped into the useless
merry-go-round I experienced in my
thirties. What do you think?
Bill
It’s great to
communicate with a
A reader from America.
To begin with I want
to address the
ketamine question as
there are differences between what
you can access in the US and here in
the UK. Ketamine was originally used,
in the 1960s, as an anaesthetic for
animals and soon after also for
humans. On the illicit drug market it is
known as “K” or “Special K”, and is a
relatively cheap drug that has become
extremely popular, globally, as a party/
club drug among teenagers and young
adults. Its dissociative effects (the
“trip”) last up to about two hours, and
include visual and sensory distortions
and unusual but temporary thoughts
and beliefs, often leading to feelings of
intense euphoria. At high doses people
can slip into what is called “a K hole”,
which is an intense dissociative stateate
where they become unresponsive,
unable to control the body, experienceence
intense hallucinations and are
detached from reality. Using this drug
can be fatal, leading to many high-risk
-risk
health complications including slowedowed
breathing, high blood pressure and d significant advances in the
unconsciousness. Long-term abusee
can cause kidney, bladder and
stomach damage, memory deficits
and depression.
In the UK and US there are
clinical trials looking at the efficacy
cy
of ketamine for treatment-resistant nt
depression, anxiety and PTSD. In
the United States the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) has
approved a ketamine-containing
nasal spray called esketamine
(Spravato) for treating a depression n
that hasn’t responded to other
treatment, or for people who are
suicidal. While the nasal spray is
licensed for use in the UK, it has
not been approved for
administration for treatment of
depression by the National
Institute for Health and Care
Excellence (Nice). However, there
are private hospitals and clinics that
do offer ketamine treatment for
CBT
enables a
depression in both the UK and the US.
Very simply put, ketamine and
esketamine boost brain chemistry and
function by acting on a brain chemical
deep dive called glutamate, which restores
connections between brain cells that
into core appear to shrink back during chronic
depression. Pulling all this together
depressive and based on your personal history of
depression and lack of faith in talk
beliefs therapy and antidepressant
medication, I can understand why you
are thinking about treatment with
ketamine. However, what I notice
from your narrative is how, when not
If you would like distracted by other tasks or activities,
Professor Tanya your brain will be overwhelmed by
Byron’s help, email depressive thoughts that have, at
proftanyabyron times, been of a suicidal nature. I am
@thetimes.co.uk sorry to hear that you have had to
struggle with this for so many years
admire your resilience in the
and I ad
face of ssuch a daily challenge.
By my reckoning the treatment you
received would have been about 40
years ago
ag and clearly it did not work
well for yyou then. Much has changed
since then
the and there have been
significa
understanding of depression and its
under
treatment, leading to copious
trea
research providing a strong
rese
evidence base.
evi
Therefore, in noting your
rrecent experience of lightened
mood that you enjoyed for a
m depression you have managed for so
few hours and which then
fe
disappeared an hour after
waking when your depressive
w have put you off the more “traditional”
automatic negative thoughts
crowded back in, destroying
yyour optimism and positive
ggoal-setting, I wonder whether
cognitive
c behavioural therapy
(CBT),
(CB which would not have
been available when you received
treatment,
treatm might be extremely
helpful
helpfu for you. This evidence-based
treatment
treatme enables a deep dive into
underlying,
underlyi core depressive beliefs
about the
th self and the world and then
enables the development of the ability
to manage the thoughts and
associated feelings and behaviours via
cognitive and behavioural techniques.
I wonder whether this treatment
approach might upskill you to be able
to sustain a positive mood without
being overwhelmed by the habitual
influx of negative thoughts driven by
core depressive beliefs. For some
people with chronic depression, CBT
works well in combination with
antidepressant medication and I
recommend you at least explore this
with a psychiatrist, as there are many
new medications that may offer you
significant benefit and relief and also
enable you to engage with CBT. There
are many good books to help you
research this, including these:
readthistwice.com/lists/best-books-on-
cognitive-behavioral-therapy.
Also you mention unhappiness and
rages in childhood and adulthood,
which perhaps point to other drivers
for your depression. These can range
from trauma to neurodevelopmental
differences, eg ADHD. Working with a
clinical psychologist and psychiatrist
now would be a very different
experience for you, as your history
would lead to thorough and holistic
assessment and screening, which
would then determine best treatments,
tailor-made for you.
It is extremely positive that you are
looking at treatment for the
many years. I completely understand
why past experience of treatment will
approaches. I cannot advise whether
you do or don’t join a ketamine trial.
However, I do recommend that you
first understand the many new
treatments, as these are evidence-
based and could enable you to learn to
challenge and destroy the negative
automatic thoughts. I recommend that
you connect with a depression support
group where you can meet and be
supported by others with similar lived
experience. I wish you well.
the times | Monday June 27 2022
Would you invest $1 million in
this 18-year-old’s start-up app?
She has founded
a service for deaf
children that adds
signing to movies.
Now her sights are
set on the big time.
By Hattie Crisell
W
hat did you
accomplish
during
lockdown?
It’s a
question
that looms
into self-
conscious view when one talks to
Mariella Satow. Stuck at home for
extended periods of the pandemic, she
learnt sign language — and then
launched a project that has improved
the lives of thousands of deaf children,
by allowing them fully to understand
movies for the first time. Not bad for
someone who was 17 at the time.
Now 18, Satow has just returned to
her parents’ house in New York after
six weeks of A-level exams at Rugby
School in Warwickshire (she is a dual
UK-US citizen). She’s very polite,
olite, with
a self-effacing manner: “I’m quiet and
introverted, I’d say. I’m kind of a
wallflower.” Her A-levels were re in
English literature, Spanish,
maths and economics.
“I think they went OK,” she
says with a shrug.
I suspect they did,
because Satow knows how
to get things done. She has
no hearing problems, but
decided long ago that she
wanted to learn sign
language. “When I was quite
young, I walked up to a
supermarket worker to ask him im
where something was, and hee was
wearing a big pin saying, ‘I’mm deaf’,”
she recalls. “I realised that wee couldn’t
communicate and we had to go our
separate ways, and that reallyy stuck
with me. So I started learning basic
American Sign Language [ASL] when
I was ten, and then with lockdown, I
started to become fluent.”
She watched YouTube videos, took
lessons and joined online communities
where she made deaf friends. Keen to
improve her comprehension, she
wanted to watch TV and movies with
sign language alongside them, but
couldn’t find much. “I realised quickly
that there was a big gap in the
market,” she says.
You might think that most people
can manage with subtitles, which
Satow says are seen as “the gold
standard of accessibility for many
streaming platforms” — but it’s a
different picture for deaf kids. Without
awareness of how letters are
pronounced,
pronounc it’s much harder to
learn to read.
read
“A baby can start signing at eight
Mariella Satow
Satow, who months old,
old whereas
w I think the
started SignUp, which average deaf child learns how to read
provides American at 11 or 12,” Satow says. “So there’s so
Sign Language much time that goes past when they
interpretations of can understand sign language
Disney+ and Netflix perfectly, but can’t read fast enough to
films, including The keep up with closed captions.”
Incredibles, above An idea was born, and she started
researching. “There’s not a huge
amount of statistics on the deaf
community, so I had to find my own
data. I started polling deaf Facebook
groups and holding focus groups, and
talking to teachers of the deaf — just
as many people as I could.”
She decided to develop a free
Google Chrome extension called
SignUp (signupcaptions.com) — a
piece of software that could be used
with the internet browser to display
sign language alongside a movie, and
SALAND PHOTOGRAPHY
could be paused or fast-forwarded
with the film too.
“I started it with money I made dog
walking, so it was an extremely tight
budget,” she says. That was spent on a
freelance developer, who set up the
tech side, and an interpreter, who
filmed the signing. The app launched
last year, with just one film: the 2016
animation Moana.
“I did the launch quite badly,” says
Satow (although based on what
follows, I don’t believe her). “I didn’t
have a PR manager, so I just posted on
five deaf Facebook groups about this
app I had. I wasn’t expecting a huge
number of people to respond.”
The best moment of this entire
experience, she says, was waking up
the next morning. “Overnight, we’d
had 20,000 visitors to our website.”
The testimonials page for SignUp is
moving — a series of deeply grateful
responses from the parents of deaf
7
life
children. “My six-year-old daughter’s
face was priceless. She LOVED it,”
says one. Satow has been thrilled. “It’s
really heartwarming. I’ve received so
many pictures of boys and girls in
their princess dresses watching their
favourite film and understanding it for
the first time – it’s just so sweet.”
From there, she started fundraising,
and has had $10,400 of donations so
far. She has a business mentor — a
graduate of Stanford University, where
Satow will also become a student next
year — and support from her art-
historian mother, and her father, who
does mergers and acquisitions in the
automotive industry.
“My mum helps with writing articles
and is my secretary, almost. And then
my dad helps organise everything and
he’s good at speaking to the lawyers,
because I don’t understand what
they’re saying.” Her 15-year-old sister
helps out with social media, and PR
agencies and interpreters have
volunteered. “People are really kind.”
SignUp now offers ASL
interpretations of 40 films — mostly
from Disney+, but some on Netflix too.
Overnight,
we’d had 20,000
visitors to
our website
“We wanted to start with focusing on
young kids, but a lot of the requests we
get are for teen and grown-up movies,”
Satow says. “It might be that ASL is
their first language, and although they
can read, it’s just more comfortable to
have sign language there as well.”
Only PBS Kids, an American
equivalent of CBBC, has had the good
sense to team up with Satow officially
— she’s doing a pilot scheme for them,
which could lead to a collaboration.
“Before the app launched, I reached
out to Disney+ and didn’t get a
response,” she says with a polite smile.
“We have not heard from them or
from Netflix. But I hope we will.”
SignUp now has 12,000 users every
week. Satow has 100 interpreters, a
chief technology officer and a team of
engineers on board, and is raising a
seed round of $1 million that will allow
her to launch the app in ten countries
over the next year. “There are 300-
plus sign languages around the world,
so it’s going to take a while.” The first
British Sign Language interpretations
have just been rolled out here, for
1994’s The Lion King and the Pixar
short Ciao Alberto.
The wallflower herself will focus on
this for the next year, then go to
Stanford where she hopes to specialise
in English literature and computer
science. “I definitely want to stay
working in assistive technology,” she
says. “I think it’s just amazing.”
Considering her track record, this can
only be good news.
8 Monday June 27 2022 | the times
MARC BRENNER

first night
classical opera
Oliver Knussen Day Sun & Sea
Snape Maltings, Suffolk The Albany, SE8
{{{{( {{{{(

A L
s a composer, conductor,
teacher and tirelessly
encouraging mentor, Oliver
Knussen had an immense
influence on hundreds of
musicians. Four years on from his
death, that influence was evident
throughout this tribute day at the
Aldeburgh Festival. It comprised four
concerts containing a slightly dizzying
40 pieces of music that he wrote,
premiered, admired or inspired.
The day culminated in a BBC
Symphony Orchestra concert
conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth that
contained, remarkably enough, a
substantial Knussen world premiere:
his Cleveland Pictures. Commissioned
in 1999 by the Cleveland Orchestra
in Ohio, it was not finished in time for
its scheduled first performance in
ike the proverbial beach bum,
Sun & Sea has been travelling
around the world, hand
luggage only, as its cast only
really need swimsuits, a lilo
and sun-cream. Who knows where
Lewisham Council found enough sand
to make an indoor beach in Deptford.
Hopefully not the Thames shoreline.
Created in Vilnius in 2017, in 2019
Sun & Sea washed up in the Venetian
lagoon, winning Lithuania a surprise
Golden Lion for best national pavilion
at the biennale. It’s now arrived in
southeast London presented by Lift,
the Serpentine Gallery and Lewisham,
Bill Pullman and London Borough of Culture.
David Harbour in Tickets are pegged to timed slots but
Mad House the work, roughly an hour long, runs
on a loop. In theory you can come and
go as you please, and stand up and

Meet the dad from hell

2004, nor when rescheduled for 2005 walk around to get a different
and 2009. viewpoint. I’d encourage more of that
It was still unfinished when he died, freedom than the audience I was with
but the 16 minutes that exist — took advantage of, who by and large
inspired by six paintings in the treated Lina Lapelyte, Vaiva Grainyte

Cleveland Museum of Art — are
magnificently pictorial, allusive and
quirky, with a rich orchestration
reminiscent of Knussen’s beloved
Ravel. We did hear one finished
Knussen orchestral piece: his attractive
and atmospheric Horn Concerto,
superbly played by Martin Owen.
Earlier in the day, three action-
packed chamber concerts featured
some outstanding performers led by
the soprano Claire Booth and cellist
Anssi Karttunen. We heard rather too
many tributes to Knussen written
almost entirely for cello harmonics, but
also a moving Song for Big Owl from
Mark-Anthony Turnage and a fast,
staccato and jagged Riddle by Augusta
Read Thomas, both for solo cello.
Other highlights included two elegiac
works for soprano, violin, cello and
piano: Colin Matthews’s wry and
radiant O, and Julian Anderson’s
intense, neurotic Tombeau. The violinist
Tamsin Waley-Cohen and pianist Huw
Watkins also gave a staggeringly good
performance of Ravel’s Sonata.
All was eclipsed by Booth’s
unaccompanied soprano delivering
Knussen’s compellingly passionate
settings of Rilke’s late poems, and then
by a ghostly collage put together by
his companion, Zoë Martlew, that
incorporated a tape of his voice.
Richard Morrison
The BBC Symphony Orchestra
concert is available on BBC Sounds
S
Bill Pullman ometimes, as a play’s interval
approaches, you cross your
and David fingers and hope that the script
Harbour excel can reach the same heights in
the second half. Theresa
in a flawed play Rebeck’s drama about a dysfunctional
about family American family — receiving its world
strife, writes premiere in London — offers a prime
example. The first hour or so delivers
Clive Davis an absorbing blend of dark and light,
anguish and humour. Sadly, that
theatre delicate balance goes awry later. It’s still
a thought-provoking piece, but you’re
Mad House left wondering what might have been.
Ambassadors, WC2 Still, we get two exemplary main
{{{(( performances. A bruised bear of a
man, David Harbour — star of the
Netflix series Stranger Things — is
unerringly compelling as Michael, a
lost soul who is caring for a bullying,
terminally ill father, Daniel, played
with equal intensity by that seasoned
actor Bill Pullman.
The old man, a widower dying of
emphysema in his rambling house in
rural Pennsylvania, is one of the most
obnoxious figures to walk a stage in
some time. Gasping for air, he spits
venom in all directions as he taunts
the son who is trying to make his last
days comfortable.
It is Michael, in fact, who is most in
need of love and affection. Yet the fact
that his mental frailties have, in the
past, landed him in an institution,
arouses contempt in a father who was
a capricious and self-centred husband
and parent. The arrival of Michael’s
much more worldly brother, Ned
(Stephen Wight), who has shunned his
caring duties but still hopes to make
big bucks from selling the house, adds
to Michael’s discomfort.
What’s striking, though, is how
much dark laughter Rebeck and the
director Moritz von Stuelpnagel
smuggle into this bleak scenario. Peace
of sorts breaks out as Akiya Henry’s
sensible Caribbean nurse, Lillian, tries
to establish some sort of routine in the
house. Daniel, who possesses Donald
Trump’s wheedling tone of voice, tries
to provoke her as well, all the while
denying he is racially prejudiced. As
the characters tip-toe around each
other in Frankie Bradshaw’s
authentically careworn domestic
interior, it’s clear that some sort of
explosion is not too far away.
It comes in the form of a boozy
escapade on the part of Michael and
the advent of his censorious sister,
Pam (Sinead Matthews). And it’s at
this point that a finely calibrated piece
starts to lurch towards melodrama, as
if a none too subtle disciple of Eugene
O’Neill had grabbed control of the
word processor. Individuals who once
spoke softly now start to emote at
length. Harbour remains the brooding
centre of the drama, but Rebeck and
von Stuelpnagel ratchet up the angst
too abruptly. What a shame.
To September 4, atgtickets.com
and Rugile Barzdziukaite’s work as a
live show rather than what it really is
— a sort of human goldfish bowl.
It’s brilliantly put together and
with a cast of perfectly drilled extras
alongside amplified singer-actors — no
one told the creative trio not to work
with children or animals, this show
has both — the anti-dramatic premise
is hypnotic. Nothing really happens.
A rich lady brags about her fancy
vacations. Another tourist complains
about littering. A toned couple
describe how they met, caught up in
the chaos triggered by an exploding
volcano. “Exhaustion, exhaustion,
exhaustion,” drones a Slavic-sounding
bass, sprawled out in his trunks.
There’s an underlying point being
made here but it’s a nebulous one.
The world is hotting up. Oceans are
turning funny colours, and — oh no!
— one of our sun-lovers once found
mushrooms growing in December.
There is supposed to be humour here
too but the overall mood is ponderous,
wary; an atmosphere underscored by
repetitive vocal lines (set to generic
electronic accompaniment) and some
gnomic text, not always brilliantly
enunciated. Still, if our summer hols
are hijacked by strikes, this is a
different kind of beach getaway —
and possibly more memorable than
the real thing.
Neil Fisher
To July 10, thealbany.org.uk

I
t was Elton’s 233rd show on his
pop delayed farewell tour. Only 100
performances to go. And tonight
Elton John he wasn’t going to waste a minute,
BST Hyde Park wrongfooting the crowd who had
{{{{( risked the burger queues by starting
ten minutes early with a blazing
Bennie and the Jets.
With all those dates, it was no
surprise that the singer, 75, looked a
little weary and unsteady — he had a
hip injury last year — as he separated
his bejewelled bottom from his piano
stool to jolly up the audience.
Miraculously, his voice showed no
signs of strain as he reminded us just
what alchemical magic he and his
regular lyricist Bernie Taupin conjure.
The highlights of the evening were
an emotional Tiny Dancer, which got
the feather boas twirling, a Rocket Man
Elton John brought Vegas to London
with a thrilling extended piano section
and Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,
which he introduced with a tribute to
his friend George Michael.
A nicely under blown version of
Candle in the Wind proved educational
as well as touching. (“It’s about a mega
movie star who killed herself,” shouted
one mother to her teenage son, as
Marilyn Monroe filled the screens.)
Later, he juxtaposed Cold Heart, his
2021 collaboration with Dua Lipa,
remixed by the Australian dance outfit
Pnau and his first No 1 for 16 years,
with the perfect ballad that made his
name, Your Song.
It’s hard to bring Vegas-style
showmanship to a royal park in the
mizzle, but Elton managed it. After
a costume change in which he
swapped a black and white tailcoat for
a harlequin jacket — and green
glittery glasses for pink — he returned
to projections of candelabras, part
of a screen show that included a
career flashback.
London is home and he showed his
delight that his children, Zachary and
Elijah, and their friends (“Sarah, Felix,
Tilly . . .”) were watching. Ever the
gentleman, he also introduced his
terrific band: Ray Cooper on
percussion; Davey Johnstone on guitar
and Nigel Olsson on drums who has
been playing since the 1960s.
By the time we got to Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road, Elton had slipped
into a robe and we, into blissful
nostalgia; for his past, our own — and
for a night that wasn’t even over yet.
Alex O’Connell
Tour continues to July 8, 2023
the times | Monday June 27 2022 9

arts

How Macca delivered one of

the greatest gigs of all time AP; REX SHUTTERSTOCK

arrangement solo proved that

Paul McCartney’s sometimes, the simplest musical
moments can be the most powerful.
Glastonbury show From there it just seemed to get better
and better.
made me cry, says You can point out a few obvious
reasons why McCartney’s concert was
Will Hodgkinson so special. The interplay with his band,
especially the guitarists, was fantastic.
McCartney was in fine shape

N
obody could claim
that Paul
McCartney’s
mammoth concert
at Glastonbury
was perfect. The
warm-up music was
a weirdly subdued
electronic medley of his own songs.
There were cheesy graphics of his
iconic violin bass guitar floating in
the ether like a holy relic. The sight
of an 80-year-old man croaking out
a not very good piece of coy erotica
called Fuh You may have caused
psychological disturbance in the
young. And when he told a tale of
“four lads from Liverpool who formed
a band and did OK for themselves”,
the glibness of which McCartney has
always been guilty was overwhelming.
But if you want perfection, go to see
Coldplay, Ed Sheeran or any number
of slick but vapid acts who have wiped
out the possibility of chance and
accident. Perfection is boring.
McCartney’s concert was filled with
the ups and downs of life itself, and
that is why it was one of the greatest
concerts of all time.
Truly memorable concerts bring
with them something more than just
music. I remember going to Iggy Pop
at the Albert Hall and from the
moment he came on some strange
delirium gripped the entire audience
and sent it into a frenzy. Seeing
David Bowie perform Heroes in its
entirety at the Royal Festival Hall was
one of the purest dedications to an
artistic idea I have witnessed. And
McCartney at Glastonbury 2022 was
a joyous coming together.
We really were in the presence of
greatness. Everybody knew the songs.
Everybody was happy to hear them.
And after a three-year wait for
Glastonbury to happen we were, by
merely singing along to them,
partaking in something of real value
and significance. For the first hour or
so it seemed like it could go horribly
wrong. “We’re going to play some old
songs, some new songs, and some
inbetweeners,” he told us, and there
were indeed far too many of the new
and the in between; some were OK by
other people’s standards but this is the
man who wrote a chunk of the
greatest songs in musical history.
A couple of lesser-known Wings
numbers early in the set made the
audience wonder: was this going to be
McCartney’s equivalent of a jazz
odyssey? He wasn’t connecting with
the crowd. A long story about Jimi
Hendrix’s guitar going out of tune
when he played a rendition of Sgt
Pepper and Eric Clapton refusing to
tune it up for him didn’t land. Then
something clicked.
From left: Paul
McCartney with the
guest stars Dave Grohl
and Bruce Springsteen
The change came when he did th the
Wings song Let ’Em In. Yes, it is an
example of McCartney at his most
cheery and uncool but it has a sweet
sentiment, a charming melody and it
felt good singing along to it alongside
100,000 or so other people before the
Pyramid Stage. The next great
moment was Blackbird; such a moving
contribution to the civil rights era, and
to witness McCartney playing its
fingerpicked acoustic guitar
(apparently he stands on his head for
ten minutes every day) and voice, he
played brilliantly, and he seemed
remarkably relaxed before such a big
crowd — but then he has done this
kind of thing before.
Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen
don’t fly across the world to do a
couple of songs with just anyone,
so when the former added oomph
to I Saw Her Standing There, the latter
contributed his throaty roar to
I Wanna Be Your Man and they both
came on at the end to swap guitar
licks on, appropriately, The End, it was
incredibly exciting. But there was
something more than that. We were
standing before the life’s work of a
man
m who has soundtracked
the
t late 20th and early
21st-century
2 experience.
There were so many hairs
on end, tear inducing
o
moments. A tribute to
m
George Harrison by way of
G
SSomething, which McCartney
opened with a tiny ukulele,
o
ggiven to him by Harrison,
before the band came in with
b
aan arrangement as epic
aas the song itself. The Abbey
Road medley, never played live
R
before. I’ve Got A Feeling
b
performed as a virtual duet
p
with John Lennon, using 1969
w
rrooftop concert footage from
tthe Get Back movie, revisited
aan important cultural moment
with the aid of modern
w
technology. And need we
te
even mention Hey Jude and Let It Be?
ven me
This was a three-hour concert
that kept on giving. It grew in
importance, surprised everyone, had
its lulls and ended in such an epic
fashion I had to spend the next hour
wandering about Glastonbury just
to get over it. Throughout it all,
Paul McCartney appeared to take
the whole thing in his stride. To
use a Macca-ism: not bad for a lad
from Liverpool.

What we
learnt at
Glasto
Women ruled the roost
There’s been so much
talk about gender
imbalance at festivals
but this year it really felt
like something had
changed — as shown by
sets from artists as morning: lithe, serene that agenda then danced to know the past 20 Flying Birds section of An ice cream was £3.50,
different as Nova Twins, and full of Lycra- on stage in bikini tops. years (or 50 years, for his setlist. “They’re for ditto cups of tea and
Wet Leg, TLC, Phoebe wrapped smugness as On paper, a faux pas. some) of their career me. But if you stick cans of soft drink.
Bridgers, St Vincent and they pick their way But the sister act made have been so cruelly around, after that there’s Perhaps I have been
Little Simz. through hordes of the weekend’s most fun dismissed, but going to be a lot of very spoilt by a few fallow
people who haven’t been entrance. Glastonbury is about happy people in bucket years at Wilderness (yes,
Lots of people go to bed yet. singalongs, not the hats.” No one was it’s the posh festival, but
jogging here Fine, play your seven-minute passion looking back in anger by the prices don’t differ
Few things sharpen the We are here for new stuff piece off your sixth solo the end. from those here and the
self-loathing of a bikini-top feminist rock The biggest rock stars album with the extended choice is far superior)
Glastonbury hangover Haim have long know full well that trombone solo. “I’m The food is as but by Sunday I was
more than seeing the campaigned for female crowds have zero going to play a few more bad as ever craving anything green
dozens of joggers equality at festivals. interest in their modern tunes you don’t give a I paid £11 for a cold as much as I was a hot
prancing around the They arrived at stuff and just want the shit about,” said Noel chicken and bacon wrap; shower.
site first thing in the Glastonbury pushing hits. It can’t be pleasant Gallagher, of the High £16 for a flimsy pizza. Times Glasto Team
10 Monday June 27 2022 | the times

times2

Your weekday brain boost

More
puzzles
Pages 14-16

Every day, Monday to Thursday, a page of extra Sudoku super fiendish Train Tracks
puzzles to give your brain an extended workout Lay tracks to enable the train to travel
from village A to village B. The numbers
indicate how many sections of rail go in
each row and column. There are only
Samurai easy straight rails and curved rails. The track
cannot cross itself.
Fill each grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box
contains the digits 1 to 9. Where the puzzles overlap, the rows and
columns do not go beyond their usual length.

Killer deadly
Fill the grid so that every column, every row and
every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. Each set of
cells joined by dotted lines must add up to the target
number in its top-left corner. Within each set of cells
joined by dotted lines, a digit cannot be repeated.
Futoshiki
Fill the blank squares so that every row and
column contains each of the numbers 1 to 5
once only. The symbols between the squares
indicate whether a number is larger (>) or
smaller (<) than the number next to it.

Codeword
Every letter in the crossword-style grid, right, has been
substituted for a number from 1 to 26. Each letter of the alphabet
Thursday’s SAMURAI

appears in the grid at least once. Use the letters already provided solutions
to work out the identity of further letters. Enter letters in the
main grid and the smaller reference grid until all 26 letters of the
alphabet have been accounted for. Proper nouns are excluded.

Quintagram® Suko
Solve all five cryptic clues using
each letter underneath once only
1 Don’t eat quickly (4)

-2 Character
- - -in ballet (Terpsichore)
(6) QUINTAGRAM
1 Peter FUTOSHIKI CODEWORD
-3 A card
- -game
- -cut -short (7) 2 Zoomed
3 Command
4 Sourish
5 Looting
-4 Sustained
- - -energy
- -at -mains SUKO

somehow (7)

-5 Argues
- -with
- husband
- - -and son
Place the numbers 1 to 9 in
about a weapon (3,5) the spaces so that the SUDOKU KILLER
TRAIN TRACKS
number in each circle is
-------- equal to the sum of the four
A A A A A B D D surrounding spaces, and
E E E F G H I I each colour total is correct
L M N O R R R S
Solutions in
S S S T T T T W tomorrow’s Times2
the times | Monday June 27 2022 11

television & radio

Tears and relief as Holmes’s secret is finally out GOALHANGER FILMS

Arguably the saddest part was when dragged out as The Staircase starring
Carol she admitted that what had made her
so terrified of coming out, even now,
Colin Firth). Obviously it’s discomfiting
that real-life tragedy-mysteries are
Midgley was that, having previously served in
the army, where it was illegal to be
gay until 2000, she feared she could
served up as entertainment, but at
least with a documentary you can
claim an investigative motive.
TV review still be arrested and court-martialled.
That the armed forces — which
Channel 4’s three-parter Murder
in the Alps used many dramatic
routinely searched people’s rooms techniques: loud trepidation music,
for evidence that they were gay, slow-motion reconstructions, ad-break
discharging them “with disgrace” and cliffhangers and building up the
confiscating their medals if they were evidence against Zaid al-Hilli, the
— could embed such institutionalised brother who did seem to have a
terror in people that it was still motive as he and Saad were in dispute
festering three decades later tells us over their inheritance. But it offered
just how toxic that culture was. good solid interviewees, not armchair
Kelly Holmes: Being Me Here’s a double Olympic gold medal experts phoning it in as is so often the
ITV winner who served her country being case these days, including detectives
{{{{( made to feel so frightened that she from Surrey and France, plus Zaid
almost suffered a breakdown. Even himself, who, disconcertingly, started
Murder in the Alps atop the post-Olympic victory bus she laughing when asked if he killed his
Channel 4
{{{(( was terrified of her sexuality being brother (he’s no longer a suspect, but
exposed. What a disgrace that a think about how it looks).

Y
ou may have felt, admittedly
as did I, that it was no big
deal when Dame Kelly
Holmes came out as gay
last week at the age of 52.
I mean, who cares in these more
enlightened times? But within five
minutes of watching Kelly Holmes:
Being Me it became obvious it was a
very big deal indeed. The massive toll
that keeping the secret had taken,
causing her to self-harm and have
suicidal thoughts, was clear from her
nervous energy and frequent tears.
national hero has spent much of her
life living in fear. But also, what a
positive, determined force of nature
Holmes was (despite her trauma, I
must say she looks amazing if that’s
not too shallow). She has said that
living with a secret meant she had
never truly been happy. Let’s hope she
is now because she deserves it.
It seems inevitable in the true crime-
fixated age that the murders of the Al-
Hilli family will one day be dramatised
in a feature film or at least a snazzy
HBO series (although hopefully not as
It is a baffling story ripe for repeated
rehashing, not least because the killer
is still at large and because the French
police seemed so hopeless that for
eight hours while they were examining
the crime scene they didn’t notice a
four-year-old girl, alive and cowering
under her mother’s skirt in the
footwell. Quite a miss. I recommend
watching ahead as the unexpected
twists and florid theories are
gobsmacking, although whether
it needs three hours to tell them
Olympic champion Kelly Holmes recently came out as gay is another matter.

Radio choice
Ben Dowell
The Essay
Radio 3, 10.45pm
After the Second World
War, Greenwich Village
experienced an artistic
renaissance as fresh music,
painting and literature burst
forth. The war united many
in the US, but its end was
followed by a nonconformist
cultural explosion that was,
for men at least, signified by
wearing an undergarment
— the T-shirt. In this series
of essays, Michael Goldfarb
explores this cultural story,
starting with the tale of
how the costume designer
Lucinda Ballard came up
with the idea to dress
Marlon Brando’s Stanley
Kowalski, above, in a
T-shirt and jeans in
Tennessee Williams’s
masterpiece A Streetcar
Named Desire.
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12 Monday June 27 2022 | the times

television & radio

Viewing Guide especially welcome Britons Emma later slot. Joining Court (there was undercover policeman
after last year, when Raducanu and Andy Barker are the familiar another that stood
Sherwood from 1984, with
Ben Dowell Covid restricted the Murray (at the time of roster of commentators from 1877 to 1922) with
BBC1, 9pm
flashback scenes
crowd capacity in writing) still hoping to and pundits including Barker, McEnroe and It’s the penultimate showing the operative
Wimbledon 2022 the early stages of compete. Another John McEnroe, Balding presenting episode of James ingratiating themselves
BBC2, 11am/BBC1,
1.45pm/7pm the event. It is also a highlight is the Martina Navratilova, coverage of the Graham’s murder- with the Ashfield
poignant one for the appearance of Serena Billie Jean King and celebrations on Sunday, mystery, an involving community. The
Wimbledon BBC for a number of Williams after an Pat Cash. Clare Balding July 3. This will look saga steeped in consequences of all this
Top and the reasons, principally absence from the tour is back chairing the back on epic matches wounds fresh and are understandably
pick British because this is the of almost a year. Today at Wimbledon with various former old from the 1984 explosive, especially
summer go presenter Sue Barker’s Today’s coverage is (BBC2, 8.30pm) Wimbledon champions miners’ dispute. Ian when the hunt for the
together like, well, last gig after 30 years’ introduced by Isa Guha, highlights. Another before concluding with (David Morrissey) killer approaches its
strawberries and service. On the court who will fulfil the same landmark this year is a performance from and Kevin (Robert conclusion and the
cream and this year’s the battles will be as duties for the rest of the the 100th anniversary the singer-songwriter Glenister) are trying operative’s identity is
tournament will be fierce as ever with the fortnight in a slightly of the present Centre Freya Ridings. Play. to identify the finally revealed.

BBC1 BBC2 ITV Channel 4 Channel 5

6.00am Breakfast. News, entertainment and weather 6.30am Bargain Hunt (r) (AD) 7.15 Pointless. Quiz 6.00am Good Morning Britain. News, current affairs and 6.05am Countdown. Tanni Grey-Thompson is in 6.00am Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine. The broadcaster
Early

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Thomas Forrester and Mark Stacey (AD) 1.00 BBC News
at One; Weather 1.30 BBC Regional News; Weather
1.45 Live Wimbledon 2022. The opening day from the All
England Club, featuring the first round of the men’s and
ladies’ singles competitions. As is tradition, defending
men’s champion Novak Djokovic is scheduled to get the
Centre Court schedule under way. See Viewing Guide
6.00 BBC News at Six; Weather 6.30 BBC Regional News
hosted by Alexander Armstrong (r) 8.00 Sign Zone: Eat
Well for Less? (r) (AD, SL) 9.00 BBC News 10.15 Politics
Live. The latest stories from Westminster and beyond
11.00 Live Wimbledon 2022. Sue Barker and Isa Guha
present coverage of the opening day from the All England
Club, featuring the first round of the men’s and ladies’
singles competitions. There was plenty for the British
fans to cheer about in the men’s competition in the
opening day last year as the tournament returned after
being cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two-time champion Andy Murray recorded a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7,
6-3 win against Nikoloz Basilashvili, and Liam Broady
recorded a comfortable straight-sets victory over Marco
Cecchinato. However, there was disappointment for home
players in the ladies’ event, as Heather Watson was
edged out by Kristie Ahn, and Katie Swan found 2017 US
Open runner-up Madison Keys too much for her.
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for two defending
champions, with Petra Kvitova going out against Sloane
Stephens, but Garbine Muguruza losing just one game
as she coasted past Fiona Ferro. See Viewing Guide
lifestyle features 9.00 Lorraine. Entertainment, current
affairs and fashion news, as well as showbiz stories and
gossip. Presented by Lorraine Kelly 10.00 This Morning.
A mix of chat, lifestyle features, advice and competitions.
Including Local Weather 12.30pm Loose Women.
Interviews and studio discussion from a female
perspective 1.30 ITV News; Weather 2.00 Dickinson’s
Real Deal. David Dickinson and his team of experts are in
Crewe, where Fay Rutter assesses some timepieces and
Stewart Hoffgartner spies a gem in a boy’s toy collection
(r) (AD) 3.00 Tenable. Five family and friends answer
questions about top 10 lists, then try to score a
perfect 10 in the final round. Quiz hosted by Warwick
Davis (r) 4.00 Tipping Point. Ben Shephard hosts the
arcade-themed quiz in which contestants drop tokens
down a choice of four chutes in the hope of winning a
£10,000 jackpot (r) 5.00 The Chase. Bradley Walsh
presents as four contestants answer general knowledge
questions and work as a team to take on ruthless quiz
genius the Chaser and secure a cash prize (r) 6.00
Regional News; Weather 6.30 ITV News; Weather
Dictionary Corner (r) 6.45 Cheers (r) 7.35 The King of
Queens (r) (AD) 8.55 Frasier (r) (AD) 10.25 Car SOS.
Fuzz Townshend and Tim Shaw restore a 1991 Range
Rover, which is a sad reminder of happier days for the
owner and her family (r) 11.25 Channel 4 News Summary
(AD) 11.30 Couples Come Dine with Me. A competitive
couple kick off the contest in Worcester with an Italian-
themed menu inspired by their upcoming wedding in
Sorrento (r) (AD) 12.30pm Steph’s Packed Lunch.
Weekday magazine show hosted by Steph McGovern 2.10
Countdown. Phil Spencer is in Dictionary Corner 3.00 Find
It, Fix It, Flog It. Simon O’Brien unearths an art deco fire
guard in north Wales (AD) 4.00 A Place in the Sun. Jean
Johansson helps a couple from Lincoln to find a home in
Spain’s Alicante Province 5.00 Come Dine with Me: The
Professionals. New series. Professional chefs battle it out
in the kitchen 6.00 The Simpsons. Marge is distressed
when Lisa signs up for the opportunity to participate in
the future colonisation of Mars (r) (AD) 6.30 Hollyoaks.
Verity warns Misbah about Ali’s troublesome lawyer
as she prepares for the upcoming trial (r) (AD)
and guests discuss the issues of the day, with co-host
Storm Huntley joining him for phone-ins and reading out
viewers’ correspondence 12.15pm Shoplifters &
Scammers: At War with the Law. TM Eye undercover
detectives Steve and Adam are on their way to question a
man caught shoplifting in an exclusive West End store (r)
1.10 5 News at Lunchtime 1.15 Home and Away. Nikau
applies for a full-time lifeguarding job (r) (AD) 1.45
Neighbours (AD) 2.15 FILM: The Crossword
Mysteries — A Puzzle to Die For (PG, TVM, 2019)
A newspaper’s crossword editor helps a detective when a
puzzle is found with the murdered owner of a art gallery.
Crime drama starring Lacey Chabert and Brennan Elliott
4.00 Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun. Dave has just four
weeks to complete the refurbishment of his bar, but he
has a mountain to climb to get everything finished so he
can open on time (r) 5.00 5 News at 5 6.00 Neighbours.
Terese learns Sapiko & Bazz Holdings has gone bust and
smells a rat (r) (AD) 6.30 Eggheads. “Our Drinking Team
Have a Quiz Problem” will be chasing the elusive
Eggheads defeat, and the cash prize that comes with it (r)

7.00 Live Wimbledon 2022 Further live 7.00 The One Show Magazine, hosted by 7.00 Channel 4 News 7.00 Police Interceptors Officers pursue
7PM

coverage of the opening day from the
All England Club, featuring the first
round of the men’s and ladies’ singles
competitions. See Viewing Guide
Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas
7.30 EastEnders Kat and Sharon prepare
for the grand opening of Peggy’s,
and Ash refuses to give in to Suki’s
order to work with Nina (AD)
7.30 Emmerdale Chas crosses the line, and
Nicola feels a prisoner in her own
home. Meanwhile, Rhona fumes
at her mother, Mary (AD)
7.55 The Political Slot With John
Alexander, SNP councillor and
Leader of Dundee City Council
an off-road motorbike, which results in
the riders trying to escape over a
garden fence, and officer catch one of
Leeds’ most prolific burglars
7.55 5 News Update

8.00 Saving Lives at Sea On the 8.00 Coronation Street A stressed Maria 8.00 Food Unwrapped’s Breakfast 8.00 The Motorway On the night shift in
8PM

8.30 Extraordinary Portraits The
experimental artist Lo Lo celebrates
the bravery of the footballer Jahmal
Howlett-Mundle (3/6) (AD)
9.00 Sherwood As the manhunt closes in
9PM
north-east coast of England, the
Blyth crew races to find a kayaker in
trouble in the North Sea (r) (AD)
8.30 Today at Wimbledon Clare Balding
presents highlights of the opening
day’s play at the All England Club,
where the first round got under way in
the men’s and ladies’ singles. Novak
Djokovic was scheduled on Centre Court
has a go at Max in the barbers as she
worries about the video, while coming
under fire from her neighbours over
their unemptied bins (AD)
9.00 Long Lost Family Davina McCall and
Buffet In a breakfast-themed special
episode, Briony May Williams goes in
search of the ultimate bacon butty,
and Amanda Byram visits the largest
dairy company in the UK (AD)
9.00 Murder in the Alps Detectives hunt
the control room near Leeds, a
motorway dispatcher spots a car crash
on the busy M62 on CCTV, as a pick-up
truck spins out of control, flips over
sideways and hits the crash barrier,
narrowly missing other vehicles (8/8)
9.00 999: Police Hour of Duty

on Scott and Andy’s location, the
search for the spycop turns back the
clock to 1984 to reveal their identity
and the events of that fateful night.
See Viewing Guide (5/6) (AD)
10.00 BBC News at Ten
10PM
to begin the defence of the title
9.30 Aids: The Unheard Tapes
New series. Documentary telling
the story of the British Aids crisis,
featuring interviews with infected
gay men and their friends that were
archived in the British Library and
Nicky Campbell help two people
searching for their missing birth
mothers — including a woman
taken to Morocco as toddler
against her mother’s will (AD)
10.00 ITV News at Ten
for a motorcyclist with a distinctive
helmet spotted near the crime scene,
journalists dig into links with the
Iraqi regime, and police find a
Swiss bank account (2/3) (AD)
10.00 Ukraine: Life Under Attack
Comms HQ receives a distress call from
a teenager whose friends are in dire
trouble in a local river. The girls have
swum out of their depth, just metres
away from a dangerous weir (6/12)
10.00 Casualty 24/7: Every Second

10.30 BBC Regional News and Weather
10.40 Hungry for It The cooks level up the
basic meal deal and create a menu
entirely out of leftovers. But one cook’s
journey in the contest comes to a
premature end (3/8) (r) (AD)
11PM
have never been broadcast before.
See Viewing Guide (1/3) (AD)
10.30 Newsnight Analysis of the day’s
events with Kirsty Wark
10.30 Regional News
10.45 The Savoy A glimpse into the lives of
those lucky enough to check into the
glamorous London hotel, and those
who serve them. Tonight, the hotel
staff are on high alert for the
— Dispatches The story of the battle
for Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city,
told through the eyes of the civilians
and emergency workers who bore
the brunt of the Russian onslaught.
See Viewing Guide (AD)
11.05 999: On the Front Line Paramedics
Counts Sister Benita must prepare
the entire department for evacuation
after a fire alarm goes off, while
paramedics rush in a man whose car
was involved in a head-on collision
with a 20-ton bin lorry (3/10) (r)
11.05 Ambulance: Code Red A West

11.15 Cricket: Today at the Test
England v New Zealand. Highlights
of day five of the series-concluding
third Test, held at Headingley
11.40 This Is MY House With Judi Love,
Richard Madeley, Kiri Pritchard-McLean
and Scarlett Moffatt (3/9) (r) (AD)
imminent arrival of a mystery hotel
inspector, and are anxious to find
out if The Savoy will retain its
Forbes five-star status (r) (AD)
11.45 All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite
Hard-hitting action from the
world of All Elite Wrestling
treat a woman who feels like she is Midlands critical care team is called to
going to pass out at work, while a man a road traffic accident in which a
needs morphine to combat the agony 13-year-old boy has been knocked over
of kidney stones. A patient suffering on the way to school (2/10) (r)
with a hernia needs an operation,
but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it
has been postponed (4/10) (r)

12.10am Have I Got a Bit More News for You The 12.15am FILM: Entebbe (12, 2018) Thriller inspired 1.25am Teleshopping 3.00 Loose Women. Interviews 12.05am 50 Shades of Gay The changes in gay life 12.05am Bouncers (r) 1.00 The LeoVegas Live Casino
Late

actor David Tennant takes over the reins for extended
edition of the satirical quiz from 2019, with Conservative
MP Johnny Mercer and the comedian Zoe Lyons joining
team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton to poke fun at
the stories making the headlines (r) 1.00-6.00 BBC News
by the 1976 hijacking and the Israeli rescue mission. Stars
Rosamund Pike and Daniel Brühl. See Viewing Guide
1.55 Sign Zone: Countryfile. Sean Fletcher visits Whitby
(r) (SL) 2.55-4.25 Our Falklands War: A Frontline
Story (r) (AD, SL)
and studio discussion from a female perspective (r)
3.50 Unwind with ITV. Daily escape designed to calm
the mind and encourage relaxation and reflection
5.05-6.00 5 Gold Rings. A pair of exes and a father-
and-daughter duo take part in the game show (r) (SL)
(r) (AD) 1.05 24 Hours in A&E (r) (AD) 2.00 Ramsay’s
Kitchen Nightmares USA (r) (SL) 2.50 Couples Come Dine
with Me (r) 3.45 Sarah Beeny’s New Life in the Country
(r) (AD, SL) 4.40 Grand Designs (r) (AD, SL) 5.35-6.05
Cook Clever, Waste Less with Prue & Rupy (r) (SL)
Show. Interactive gambling 3.00 Elephant Hospital (r)
3.45 Britain’s Biggest Mosque (r) (SL) 4.35 Wildlife SOS
(r) (SL) 5.00 House Doctor (r) (SL) 5.25 Peppa Pig
(r) (AD, SL) 5.30 Paw Patrol (r) (SL) 5.50-6.00
Milkshake! Monkey’s Amazing Adventures (r) (SL)
the times | Monday June 27 2022 13

television & radio

Jonathan Nolan and sync to the original were repelled from the
Westworld Lisa Joy’s drama,
Aids: The voice recordings and
Ukraine: Life centre of Kharkiv in
Film Entebbe
Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pm Unheard Tapes Under Attack BBC2, 12.15am
which was much hyped offer a frank, intimate late February, they dug
BBC2, 9.30pm Channel 4, 10pm
It’s been two years when it was launched and sometimes in on the outskirts and Rosamund Pike
since fans were treated in 2016, and has largely The British Library humorous account of This hour-long began a bombardment delivers a fantastically
to fresh episodes of the failed to deliver the archives are home life at the heart of the documentary, narrated of this city of 1.5 million unhinged performance
HBO series about an promised thrills despite to many hours of story, starting with the by Cate Blanchett, tells people. About half the as a German
android uprising that fabulous CGI. The extraordinary verbal death of the barman the story of the battle population stayed, and revolutionary in this
started at an adult returning cast includes testimony from HIV- Terry Higgins in 1982. for Kharkiv, Ukraine’s the film-makers spent retelling of a real-life
theme park and spilt Evan Rachel Wood, positive gay men and Episode one features second city, through weeks underground hostage crisis from
over into the wider Thandiwe Newton, Ed their friends who lived men coping with their the eyes of the civilians with the thousands 1976, when an Air
world. Sky will be Harris, Jeffrey Wright, through the Aids crisis. diagnoses at a time of and emergency workers of people who were France flight from
hoping that the air Tessa Thompson, This three-part series heightened stigma and who bore the brunt of living and sleeping in Tel Aviv was hijacked
hasn’t been sucked out Luke Hemsworth brings them to life with fear when there was the Russian onslaught. subway stations and and diverted to Entebbe
of the showrunners and Aaron Paul. young actors who lip- no cure in sight. After Putin’s troops school basements. in Uganda. (107min)

Sky Max
6.00am Stargate SG-1 (r) 8.00 The Flash (r)
9.00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (r) (AD) 10.00
Supergirl (r) 11.00 NCIS: New Orleans (r)
1.00pm Hawaii Five-0 (r) 2.00 MacGyver (r)
(AD) 3.00 DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (r) (AD)
4.00 The Flash (r) 5.00 Supergirl (r)
6.00 Stargate SG-1. Sci-fi drama (r)
7.00 Stargate SG-1. The team is forced to
decide between Teal’c and millions of lives (r)
8.00 Resident Alien. Harry races to keep his
secret safe. Starring Alan Tudyk (r) (AD)
9.00 The Midwich Cuckoos. Zoe is forced
out of her nest by Hannah (r) (AD)
10.00 A League of Their Own Road Trip: Dingle
to Dover. Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp
spend time with Tyson Fury (r) (AD)
11.00 The Force: North East. New homeowners
discover a cannabis farm in their loft (r)
12.00 The Lazarus Project (r) (AD) 1.00am
Brit Cops: Law & Disorder (r) (AD) 2.00 Road
Wars (r) 3.00 Hawaii Five-0 (r) 4.00 MacGyver
(r) (AD) 5.00 Highway Cops (r) (AD)
Sky Atlantic
6.00am Urban Secrets (r) 10.00 The Sopranos
(r) 12.15pm Game of Thrones (r) (AD) 1.25
Boardwalk Empire (r) (AD) 3.35 The Sopranos
(r) 5.40 The Wire. Omar persuades Bunk
to help him prove his innocence (r)
6.50 The Wire. Bunk antagonises his
colleagues by meddling in Omar’s case (r)
8.00 Game of Thrones. Ramsay sends his
dogs after Theon and Sansa (r) (AD)
9.00 Westworld. Sci-fi drama starring Ed Harris
and Thandiwe Newton. See Viewing Guide (r)
10.10 We Own This City. Despite numerous
complaints, Hersl is placed on the GTTF, and
Jensen monitors Gondo’s calls (3/6) (r) (AD)
11.20 The Pacific. Sledge and his division are
sent to assist the attack on a fortified position
in Okinawa, where they are confronted by
horrific evidence of the war’s impact
on Japanese civilians (r) (AD)
12.30am The Pacific. The Marines return home
(r) (AD) 1.40 Babylon Berlin (r) 3.40 In
Treatment (r) 4.10 Urban Secrets (r)
Sky Documentaries Sky Arts
6.00am Fish Town (r) 7.00 Discovering: Jack
Lemmon (r) (AD) 8.00 The Directors (r) 8.50
100 Foot Wave (r) 10.00 Rolling Stone: Stories
from the Edge (r) 11.00 The 2000s (r) 12.00
A Crime on the Bayou (r) 1.45pm My Icon:
Kadeena Cox (r) (AD) 2.00 FILM: Audrey
— More Than An Icon (PG, 2020)
Profile of Audrey Hepburn 4.00 Discovering:
Jack Lemmon (r) (AD) 5.00 The Directors (r)
6.00 100 Foot Wave (r)
7.10 Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge. The
magazine’s relationship with Bob Dylan (6/6) (r)
8.00 The 2000s. Technological advancements (r)
9.00 FILM: Transhood (15, 2020) Four
children as they redefine “coming of age”
11.00 FILM: Whitey — United States of
America v James J Bulger (15, 2014) The
life of infamous criminal James “Whitey” Bulger
12.40am Wirecard: A Billion Euro Lie (r) (AD)
2.40 FILM: The Soul of America (PG, TVM,
2020) Documentary 4.10 Discovering: Jack
Lemmon (r) (AD) 5.00 The 2000s (r)
6.00am Darbar Festival 2018 7.00 Barry
Humphries on the Music Hitler Banned (AD)
8.00 Reinventing the Orchestra with Charles
Hazlewood 9.00 Tales of the Unexpected 10.00
Discovering: Cary Grant (AD) 11.00 Music Icons:
Jazz Rock 11.30 Video Killed the Radio Star
(AD) 12.00 The South Bank Show Originals
1.00pm Tales of the Unexpected 2.00 The
Seventies (AD) 3.00 The Directors (AD)
4.00 Tales of the Unexpected 5.00
Discovering: Robert Mitchum (AD)
6.00 Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
7.00 André Rieu: Dreams Come True
8.00 André Rieu: Welcome to My World
9.00 Reinventing the Orchestra with Charles
Hazlewood. The conductor examines how to
bring the orchestra into the 21st century
10.00 Sky Arts Big Hay Weekend
11.30 Roger Waters: The Wall
2.00am Set the Night on Fire: The Story of
Ewan MacColl 3.00 The Art Mysteries 4.00
Master of Photography (AD) 5.00 Auction
Sky Main Event
6.00am Sky Sports News 7.00 Good Morning
Sports Fans. News and views on today’s early
stories and a look at the back pages 10.00 Test
Cricket Bitesize 10.15 Live Test Cricket: England
v New Zealand. Coverage of day five of the
series-concluding third Test, held at Headingley
7.00pm Sky Sports News. Round-up of the
sports news, with live analysis and comment
8.00 Sky Sports News. Round-up of the sports
news, with live analysis and comment, plus
extended interviews with the headline-makers
9.00 Sky Sports News. Round-up of the sports
news, with live analysis and comment, plus
extended interviews with the headline-makers
10.00 Sky Sports News. Round-up of the sports
news, with live analysis and comment, plus
extended interviews with the headline-makers
11.00 Sky Sports News. Round-up of the sports
news, with live analysis and comment, plus
extended interviews with the headline-makers
12.00 Live: Total Access. A round-up of the
latest NFL news 1.00am Sky Sports News
Variations
BBC1 N Ireland
As BBC1 except: 10.40pm The Band (r)
11.10 Hungry for It (r) (AD) 12.10am This Is
MY House 12.40 Have I Got a Bit More
News for You (r) 1.25-6.00 BBC News
BBC1 Scotland
As BBC1 except: 8.30pm-9.00 Tiny Lives.
Celebrating World Prematurity Day 10.40
Extraordinary Portraits 11.10 Hungry for It (r)
(AD) 12.10am This Is MY House 12.40 Have I
Got a Bit More News for You (r) 1.25 Weather
for the Week Ahead 1.30-6.00 BBC News
BBC1 Wales
As BBC1 except: 8.30pm-9.00 X-Ray 10.40
Extraordinary Portraits 11.10 Hungry for It (r)
(AD) 12.10am This Is MY House 12.40 Have I
Got a Bit More News for You (r) 1.25 Weather
for the Week Ahead 1.30-6.00 BBC News
BBC2 N Ireland
As BBC2 except: 9.30pm Barra’s Wild Days
Out (r) 10.00-10.30 Ceol le Toal (r) 11.15
AIDS: The Unheard Tapes. See Viewing Guide
12.15am Cricket: Today at the Test 1.15 Pride
Live at the Apollo (r) 1.45-1.55 Gardening
Together with Diarmuid Gavin (r)

ITV Wales
As ITV except: 10.45pm Sharp End
11.15-11.45 Coast & Country (r)

STV
As ITV except: 10.30pm STV News; Weather
10.40 Scotland Tonight; Weather 11.05
The Savoy (r) (AD) 12.05am-3.00
Teleshopping 3.50-5.05 Unwind with STV

TalkTV
6.00am James Max 6.30 The Julia Hartley-
Brewer Breakfast Show 10.00 The Independent
Republic of Mike Graham. The host takes a look
at the morning newspapers 1.00pm Ian Collins.
Hard-hitting monologues, stimulating
debates and dedicated time for your calls
4.00 Jeremy Kyle. Political panel debates,
all the latest from Parliament, and exclusive
interviews with big-name guests
7.00 The News Desk with Tom Newton Dunn.
The host tackles the biggest stories of the day
with a packed hour of news, expert analysis,
debate and exclusives from across the UK
8.00 Piers Morgan Uncensored. The host
presents his verdict on the day’s global events
with debate and straight-talking interviews
9.00 The Talk. A panel of opinionated
famous faces debate hot topics
10.00 Daisy McAndrew. The host is joined by
leading journalists and commentators to
discuss the day’s big stories and look forward
to the following day’s newspapers
11.00 Piers Morgan Uncensored (r)
12.00 Petrie Hosken. News stories
4.00am The Talk (r) 5.00 James Max
BBC4
7.00pm Cricket: Today at the Test. England v
New Zealand. Highlights of day five of the
series-concluding third Test, held at Headingley
8.00 Building Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Power
Station. The challenges involved with building
the Hinkley Point C in the remote Somerset
countryside, the first new nuclear power
station in Britain for a generation (1/2)
9.00 A Very British Deterrent. Docudrama about
the history of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, based
on declassified files and examining the weapons’
role in the UK’s relationship with the US
10.00 Britain’s Nuclear Secrets: Inside
Sellafield. Jim Al-Khalili explores the history of
the nuclear facility in Cumbria, investigating
Britain’s attempts — past, present and future
— to harness the power of the atom
11.00 Hiroshima. Docudrama charting the
political and social impact of the attack on the
Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, revealing
the horror of living through a nuclear explosion
12.30am Secrets of Skin. Last in the series
1.00 The Wonder of Animals 1.30 A Very
British Deterrent 2.30-3.30 Building Britain’s
Biggest Nuclear Power Station (SL)
Talking Pictures
6.00am FILM: Murder in Eden (U, 1961)
Crime drama starring Ray McAnally (b/w) 7.20
Take Two: Nanette Newman Interview 7.50
FILM: River Beat (U, 1954) Thriller starring
Phyllis Kirk (b/w) 9.10 FILM: Tom Brown’s
Schooldays (U, 1951) Drama starring Robert
Newton (b/w) 11.00 The Way We Live
12.15pm FILM: Our Girl Friday (PG, 1954)
Comedy with Joan Collins 1.45 Look at Life 2.00
Rooms 3.00 FILM: The Calendar (U, 1948)
Drama with Greta Gynt (b/w) 4.35 Guernsey in
the 1970s 5.00 The Footage Detectives
6.00 FILM: King of the Khyber Rifles (PG,
1953) Adventure starring Tyrone Power
8.00 Gideon’s Way (b/w)
9.00 FILM: The Bed Sitting Room (15,
1969) Surreal comedy starring Spike Milligan
10.45 FILM: From the Terrace (PG, 1960)
Romantic drama starring Paul Newman,
Joanne Woodward and Myrna Loy
1.35am FILM: Switching Channels (PG,
1988) Newsroom comedy starring Burt
Reynolds and Kathleen Turner 3.40 FILM:
Snowball (U, 1960) Children’s drama starring
Dennis Waterman (b/w) 5.00 The Saint
Film4
11.00am Santa Fe Passage (U, 1955)
Western adventure starring John Payne
12.50pm The Fighting Seabees (U, 1944)
Second World War drama starring John Wayne
(b/w) 2.55 The Rare Breed (U, 1966)
Romantic comedy Western starring Maureen
O’Hara and James Stewart 4.50 Run Silent,
Run Deep (U, 1958) Second World War drama
starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster (b/w)
6.40 Deep Impact (12, 1998) A reporter
investigating a presidential misdemeanour
stumbles on evidence that a comet is on a
collision course with Earth. Sci-fi drama starring
Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni and Morgan Freeman
9.00 Glass (15, 2019) Three men with
superhuman abilities end up in a mental
hospital, where a doctor has sinister plans.
Fantasy thriller with James McAvoy, Bruce
Willis and Samuel L Jackson (AD)
11.35 Mother! (18, 2017) A couple’s
relationship is tested when uninvited
guests arrive at their home. Drama starring
Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem (AD)
1.55am-4.00 The Oath (15, 2016)
Icelandic thriller starring Baltasar Kormákur
More4
8.55am Kirstie’s Vintage Gems 9.15 A Place in
the Sun 11.05 Find It, Fix It, Flog It 1.05pm
Heir Hunters 2.10 Four in a Bed 4.50 The Block:
Big Renovation Challenge. The teams hand over
their completed terraces and re-do rooms
5.55 Heir Hunters. The memorial service of a
Liverpool MP gives probate detectives a lead
6.55 Escape to the Château: DIY. Dick
Strawbridge helps new owners who
have discovered rising damp (AD)
7.55 The Dog House. Two very different puppies
are offered to a couple and their girls (5/8) (AD)
9.00 River Cottage Reunited. A trip to the
seashore uncovers seaweeds that make
an innovative beachside lunch (AD)
10.00 Moors Murders: The Witness. Analysis of
never-before-seen letters from Ian Brady and
Myra Hindley, written in prison, and personal
accounts from those who knew them (1/3) (AD)
11.05 Billion Pound Cruise. Revealing
how the 6,680 guests occupy themselves
on board the billion-pound vessel (AD)
12.10am 999: On the Front Line 1.15 River
Cottage Reunited (AD) 2.15 24 Hours in A&E
(AD) 3.20-3.50 Food Unwrapped (AD)
UTV
As ITV except: 10.45pm-11.45 View from
Stormont. The latest political developments
BBC Scotland
2.00pm Sign Zone: Secret Body (r) 3.00 Sign
Zone: The Mart (r) 3.30-4.00 Sign Zone:
Beechgrove (r) 7.00 Beechgrove (r) 7.30
Highland Road Rescue (r) (AD) 8.00 Scottish
Vets Down Under (r) (AD) 8.30 Great Escapes
with Colin and Justin (r) (AD) 8.55 Beechgrove
Repotted (r) 9.00 The Nine 10.00 Style Fixers
(AD) 10.30 Scot Squad. Last in the series (r)
(AD) 11.00 Limmy’s Homemade Show (r)
11.30-12.00 May Contain Nuts (r)
BBC Alba
6.00am Alba Today 5.00pm Treubh an
Tuathanais (r) 5.15 Su Pic (r) 5.25
Beathaichean a’ Bocadaich 5.30 ’S E Iasg a
Th’Annam (r) 5.35 AH-AH/No-No 5.40
Meaban is Moo (r) 5.45 Piseag & Cuilean (r)
5.50 Stòiridh (r) 6.00 Na Moomins (r) 6.20
Port Pàipeir (r) 6.35 Saidheans Sporsail
(Backyard Science) (r) 7.00 Puirt-adhair
(Highland Airports) (r) 7.30 SpeakGaelic (r)
8.00 An Là (News) 8.30 Sgoil nan Sagart/
Priest School (r) 9.00 Trusadh (Compelling
Stories) 10.00 Iùl a’ Chiùil (The Musical Path)
(r) 10.30 Cumhachd a’ Yoik (The Power of Yoik)
(r) 11.30 FUNC (r) 12.00-6.00am Alba Today

ITV2
6.00am World’s Funniest Videos 6.30 Love
Bites (AD, SL) 7.30 Dress to Impress 8.25
You’ve Been Framed! Attacks 9.20 Hart of Dixie
10.15 One Tree Hill 11.10 The O.C 12.05pm
Supermarket Sweep 1.05 Alan Carr’s Epic
Gameshow (AD) 2.05 Family Fortunes 3.05
Hart of Dixie 4.00 One Tree Hill 5.00 The O.C
6.00 Celebrity Catchphrase (AD)
7.00 All American. Spencer learns the
real reason why his father left
8.00 Superstore. The employees prepare
for the grand re-opening (AD)
8.30 Superstore. Amy suspects that
Dina is dealing with anxiety (AD)
9.00 Love Island. The latest events
10.05 Don’t Hate the Playaz. With Maya Jama,
Michael Dapaah and London Hughes
10.50 Family Guy (AD)
11.20 Family Guy (AD)
11.50 American Dad! (AD)
12.20am American Dad! (AD) 12.45 Superstore
(AD) 1.40 The Stand Up Sketch Show 2.15
Totally Bonkers Guinness World Records
2.45 Unwind with ITV 3.00 Teleshopping
ITV3
6.00am Classic Coronation Street (AD) 7.00
Classic Emmerdale 8.05 Bless This House 9.15
A Touch of Frost (AD) 11.25 The Royal
12.30pm Heartbeat (AD) 1.35 Classic
Emmerdale 2.40 Classic Coronation Street (AD)
3.40 Midsomer Murders (AD) 5.50 Downton
Abbey. Ethel’s flirting lands her in trouble (AD)
7.00 Heartbeat. An arsonist strikes the home of
a talented artist. Joe McGann guest stars (AD)
8.00 Vera. DCI Stanhope investigates a murder
at a remote country house, but no sooner does
she arrive, than a second body is discovered and
a connection starts to emerge between the
victims. Brenda Blethyn stars (3/4) (AD)
10.00 Blue Murder. Crime drama starring
Caroline Quentin as a detective and single mum
who puts family concerns aside to investigate
the murder of a deputy headmaster (1/2) (AD)
11.40 A Touch of Frost. A rapist arouses Frost’s
righteous indignation and prompts him to take
the most desperate professional gamble of his
career by using a PC as bait (4/4) (AD)
1.50am Bless This House. Seventies comedy
2.15 Unwind with ITV 2.30 Teleshopping
ITV4
6.00am World of Sport 6.15 Cadfael 7.40
Dempsey and Makepeace (AD) 8.40 The
Professionals (AD) 9.45 Minder (AD) 10.55
Cadfael 12.35pm Junk and Disorderly 1.35
Robin of Sherwood 2.40 Dempsey and
Makepeace (AD) 3.50 The Professionals (AD)
4.50 Minder (AD) 5.55 Made in Britain (AD)
6.55 The Celebrity Chase. With Adrian Chiles,
Gemma Merna, Rosie Marcel and Jon Snow
8.00 MotoGP Highlights. The Motul TT Assen.
Action from the ninth race of the season, which
came from the TT Assen Circuit in Amsterdam
9.00 FILM: Tomorrow Never Dies (12,
1997) James Bond battles to stop a media
mogul’s plan to start a war between Britain
and China. Spy adventure starring Pierce
Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh,
Teri Hatcher, Ricky Jay and Gotz Otto (AD)
11.25 FILM: Enemy of the State (15, 1998)
An encounter with an old friend derails a
lawyer’s life as he ends up framed for murder
and pursued by government agents. Thriller
starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman (AD)
2.05am Motorsport UK 3.00 Teleshopping
Drama
6.00am Teleshopping 7.00 To the Manor Born
7.45 Bergerac 8.40 The Bill 9.40 Holby City
11.00 Casualty (AD) 12.00 The Bill 1.00pm
Classic EastEnders 2.20 Bergerac 3.20
A Place to Call Home 4.20 All Creatures
Great and Small 5.20 Birds of a Feather
6.00 To the Manor Born
6.40 Last of the Summer Wine
7.20 Last of the Summer Wine.
Foggy drags Compo and Clegg into his
celebratory plans for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee
8.00 Inspector Alleyn Mysteries. The sleuth’s
former French teacher, the landlord of an idyllic
Scottish island, receives a death threat
10.10 New Tricks. Jack’s mind is not on the job
as Ricky Hanson faces trial for trying to murder
him. Guest starring David Troughton (1/8) (AD)
11.30 Silent Witness. A severed finger is
brought to the Lyell Centre by a detective and
immigration officer, who ask Nikki and Thomas
to test for a DNA match with a Syrian illegal
immigrant. Emilia Fox stars (AD)
2.00am The Heart Guy. Meryl plays dirty 3.00
A Place to Call Home 4.00 Teleshopping
Yesterday
6.00am Michael Palin’s New Europe 8.00 Secret
Nazi Bases 9.00 World War Weird 10.00
Abandoned Engineering (AD) 12.00 The
Architecture the Railways Built (AD) 1.00pm
Railway Journeys with Chris Tarrant (AD)
2.00 Abandoned Engineering (AD) 4.00
Secret Nazi Bases 5.00 World War Weird
6.00 Railway Journeys with Chris Tarrant (AD)
7.00 Abandoned Engineering. The underground
base with the power to destroy a nation,
and an ancient world discovered in the
open American wilderness (2/8) (AD)
8.00 Inside the Factory. Gregg Wallace
visits a croissant factory in France
9.00 Scouting for Toys. A lego enthusiast
prepares to release some of his prized
sets at auction (4/10) (AD)
10.00 Bangers and Cash. A man reluctantly
sends his dream car to auction (9/10)
11.00 Abandoned Engineering. The desert town
that faced a disaster of biblical proportions,
and vast coastal ruins (1/8) (AD)
12.00 Abandoned Engineering (AD) 1.00am
Michael Palin’s New Europe 3.00 Teleshopping
S4C
6.00am Cyw: Timpo (r) 6.10 Halibalw (r) 6.20
Do Re Mi Dona (r) 6.35 Twt (r) 6.50 Oli Wyn
(r) 7.00 Nico Nôg (r) 7.10 Stiw (r) 7.20 Caru
Canu a Stori (r) 7.30 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r)
7.45 Gwdihw (r) 8.00 Blociau Rhif (r) 8.05
Guto Gwningen (r) 8.20 Wibli Sochyn y Mochyn
(r) 8.30 Digbi Draig (r) 8.45 Sigldigwt (r) 9.00
Anifeiliaid Bach y Byd (r) 9.10 Y Brodyr Coala
(r) 9.20 Antur Natur Cyw (r) 9.35 Pablo (r)
9.45 Y Diwrnod Mawr (r) 10.00 Timpo (r)
10.10 Halibalw (r) 10.20 Do Re Mi Dona (r)
10.35 Twt (r) 10.50 Oli Wyn (r) 11.00 Nico
Nôg (r) 11.10 Stiw (r) 11.20 Caru Canu a Stori
(r) 11.30 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r) 11.45
Gwdihw (r) 12.00 News; Weather 12.05pm
Caru Siopa (r) (AD) 12.30 Heno (r) 1.00 Bwyd
Epic Chris (r) (AD) 1.30 Sgwrs Dan y Lloer (r)
2.00 News; Weather 2.05 Prynhawn Da 3.00
News; Weather 3.05 Y Fets (r) (AD) 4.00 Awr
Fawr 5.00 Stwnsh 6.00 Cymru, Dad a Fi (r)
(AD) 6.30 Rownd a Rownd (r) (AD) 6.57 News;
Weather 7.00 Heno 7.30 News; Weather 8.00
Y Byd ar Bedwar 8.25 Garddio a Mwy 8.55
News 9.00 Ffermio 9.30 Corau Rhys Meirion
(r) (AD) 10.30 Ar Werth (r) 11.00-11.35
Bethesda: Pobol y Chwarel (r) (AD)
14 Monday June 27 2022 | the times

MindGames
General Knowledge Crossword No 135 Codeword No 4625 Train Tracks No 1666

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

© PUZZLER MEDIA
9

10 11

12 13

14 15 16 17

18

19 20

21

22 23 24 25

26 27

Lay tracks to enable the train to travel from village A to village

28 29 B. The numbers indicate how many sections of rail go in each
row and column. There are only straight rails and curved rails.
The track cannot cross itself.
Across 25 Sports implement that may
1 Domed structure forming be supported by a spider (3)
a roof (6) 26 Seabird droppings used Mini Sudoku
4 City known as Verulamium as fertiliser (5)
to the Romans (2,6) 27 Glossy material employed Fill the grid so
10 Prelude to “Then fall, Caesar” in cabinetmaking (9) that every
in a Shakespeare play (2,2,5) 28 Multi-discipline equestrian column, every
11 Spiny yellow-flowered sport (8) row and every
heathland plant (5) 29 British duck with a distinctive 3x2 box contains
Every letter in this crossword-style grid has been substituted for a number from 1
the digits 1 to 6
12 Trade union once led by Bob whistling call (6) to 26. Each letter of the alphabet appears in the grid at least once. Use the letters
Crow and Jimmy Knapp (1,1,1) already provided to work out the identity of further letters. Enter letters in the main
13 Essex-born vocalist who began Down grid and the smaller reference grid until all 26 letters of the alphabet have been
accounted for. Proper nouns are excluded. Saturday’s solution, right
her career in Yazoo (6,5) 1 Goats’ milk cheese (6)
14 Country whose currency 2 Small postprandial cake Cluelines Stuck on Codeword? To receive 4 random clues call 0901 293 6262 or
is the zloty (6) or biscuit (5,4) text TIMECODE to 64343. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network
16 Kent home of the Turner 3 Star sign straddling access charge. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network charge. For the full solution
Contemporary gallery (7) September and October (5) call 0905 757 0142. Calls cost £1 per minute plus your telephone company’s network
19 Dara ---, host of the BBC panel 5 Roddy Doyle book and film access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5.30pm).
show Mock the Week (1,6) about a Dublin soul band (3,11)
20 Pacific island where the artist 6 Hare or rabbit, eg (9) Lexica No 6411 No 6412
Gauguin once resided (6) 7 Tabular arrangement of
22 The ---, Ealing Studios crime numbers in mathematics (5)
caper starring Alec Guinness 8 Fragrant garden flower
C H U W T C L E S A G A Winning Move
and Peter Sellers (11) of the legume family (5,3) B S A
L 9 Creator of the Gruffalo (5,9) Ç ÇWhite to play.
This position is from
F R U I T B A T C A T H A Y
15 Wicketkeeper who effected U N N C ÚÇÚ Ç Costachi-Vovk, Titled
I A O R E E R a record 269 Test dismissals ÚÇÚ Ú Ú Tuesday, chess.com
V E N U S W I L L I A M S for England (4,5) D O O C 2022.
I M O E T E 17 Plant whose flower heads ÚÇqÇgÇI
D E
R
A C
K
O N S H I L
T C
L I N
E A
G
contain an edible “heart” (9) G H M O Ú ÚÇÚÇÚÇ The open g-file and
18 French town and former precarious position of
W A T E R C R E S S S O L E
cross-Channel ferry port (8) I G D ÇÚÇR ÚÇg the black king mean
L A E L
O V A L L A T R A V I A T A 21 Fay ---, author of The Life ÚÇÚÇÚÇÚÇ that White has a
winning attack. He
D T L E
I E
A B I N
E A
G D O N P I
E O
C A R D
& Loves of a She-Devil (6) ÃgÃáÇÚÇÚ now found a clever
23 Rapper whose One Dance ÚÇ$ÇÚÅDÇ tactical idea that led to
R O D L A O L R O I S N O R M I
A L F O N S O C U A R O N was UK No 1 for 15 weeks (5) a swift checkmate.
T I I O M O T 24 Mount where Moses received Slide the letters either horizontally or vertically back into the grid to produce a
Ç Ç How did he continue?
B O R G I A R O B I N S O N the Ten Commandments (5) completed crossword. Letters are allowed to slide over other letters

KenKen Easy No 5617 Futoshiki No 4246 Kakuro No 3205

Fill the grid

using the
numbers 1 to 9
only. The
numbers in each
horizontal or
vertical run of
white squares
add up to the
total in the
© 2010 KENKEN PUZZLE & TM NEXTOY. DIST. BY UFS, INC. WWW.KENKEN.COM

triangle to its left

or above it. The
same number
may occur more
than once in a
row or column,
but not within
the same run of
white squares.
© PUZZLER MEDIA

All the digits 1 to 6 must appear in every row and column. In Fill the blank squares so that every row and column contains
each thick-line “block”, the target number in the top left-hand each of the numbers 1 to 5 once only. The symbols between
corner is calculated from the digits in all the cells in the block, the squares indicate whether a number is larger (>) or smaller
using the operation indicated by the symbol. (<) than the number next to it.
the times | Monday June 27 2022 15

MindGames
times2 Crossword No 8941 Brain Trainer Cell Blocks No 4508

© PUZZLER MEDIA
Divide the grid

ANSWER ANSWER ANSWER

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
into square or
EASY 11 + 7 x 5 90%
OF IT
–9 7/
9
OF IT
– 14 ÷ 2 + 11 x 3 rectangular
blocks, each
containing one
8 9 digit only. Every
block must
MEDIUM 16 SQUARE
IT
+ 1/2
OF IT
+ 28 x 2 7/
8
OF IT
+ 95 1/
2
OF IT
– 87 + 1/3
OF IT
contain the
number of cells
10 11 indicated by the
digit inside it.
12 5/ + 1/4
HARDER 236 x 6 + 386 + 1/2
OF IT
x 3 – 933 8
OF IT
+ 903 OF IT
– 884
13 14 15

16 17 18 19
Polygon Set Square No 3208
From these letters, make words of Enter each of
20 three or more letters, always including the numbers
the central letter. Answers must be in from 1 to 9 in
21 22 the Concise Oxford Dictionary, excluding the grid, so that
capitalised words, plurals, conjugated the six sums
verbs (past tense etc), adverbs ending work. We’ve
in LY, comparatives and superlatives. placed two
23 24 How you rate 15 words, average; numbers to get
20, good; 25, very good; 30, excellent you started.

© PUZZLER MEDIA
Saturday’s answers Each sum
Across 16 Devoutly religious (5) should be
doge, dong, dongle, dough, dung, enough,
1 Fights; fragments (6) 18 Dignified, grand (7) calculated left
geld, ghoul, glen, glop, glue, gluon, gold,
to right or top
5 Become activated (4,2) 21 Strange, odd (8) golden, gone, gulden, gulp, huge, hung,
to bottom.
lodge, loge, long, longe, lough, lounge,
8 Metal (4) 22 Noise of a pig (4) luge, lung, lunge, nudge, ogle, plough,
9 TV update (8) 23 Former prime minister (6) plug, plunge, podge, pong, pudge,
24 Revoke, annul (6) unglued, unpeg, unploughed, unplug Please note, BODMAS does not apply
10 Smokers' dish (7)
11 Hunting dog (5)
Down Killer Gentle No 8369 Solutions
13 Bad behaviour (11)
2 Deep red (7)
Solution to Crossword 8940 3 Racecourse (5) Quick Cryptic 2164 Codeword 4624 Kakuro 3204
S A F E T Y B E L T 4 Seek a tan (8) F L A R E D MAGGO T
A I R A A I
A L E U I I 5 Flightless bird (4) I M POS E R E S A L E
S T AND RU N I N T O 6 Tropical storm (7) B A A B
T N E N E V GR U B ME T EOR I C
OU T RE I M BURS E 7 Norwegian playwright (5) U O H T R
S OUGH T A F T E R
U E A N U R 12 Significant, momentous (8) C R O L I
NUD I T Y S TOCK S 14 Out of the ordinary (7) MO UN T A I N E A T S
D E A T O U E R O A
I NAUD I B L E CU P 15 Absence of sound (7) U P S E ND T HROB S
I N E O I L
N L E R K P 17 Clumsy, awkward (5) RUDD E R N A B B E D Train Tracks 1665
G E TWE L L F I NA L 19 Plant spike (5)
E G I A E Y Chess — Winning Move Suko 3526 Square Routes
ARROGAN T L Y
20 Conifer (4) 171
1 Rg8+! Kxg8 2 Qg2+ Kh8
Need help with today’s puzzle? Call 0905 757 0143 to check the
3 Bg7+ (3 Bxf8 also works) W A T E R
3 ... Kg8 4 Bxf8+ Kxf8 5 Qg7 O U S AG
answers. Calls cost £1 per minute plus your telephone company’s mate.
network access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm). R C E R E
K A V A L
Brain Trainer S R O N D
Bridge Andrew Robson Easy 96; Medium 428; Harder 5,851

Cell Blocks 4507 Set Square 3207 KenKen 5616 Word watch
What a 12 months it has been for Dealer: East, Vulnerability: Neither
Scottish bridge. First, the Scotland Disembogue (b) To exit a
Open team wins both the Lazard Teams ♠ Q92 river mouth into the sea
Sportsmanship Award and the ♥A 9 5 (Chambers)

Alan Truscott Memorial Award for ♦J 5 Killer Tricky No 8370

Sinter (c) An incrustation
deposited by hot springs
♣KQ 9 6 5 (Collins)
refusing to sit down (online) for the ♠4 ♠ A K 10 8 6 3
N Unk-unk (b) A thing whose
first match of the 2021 European ♥ Q 10 8 6 4 3 W E ♥K 7 existence and nature is
Team Championships to compete ♦KQ 9 8 S ♦10 4 2 not yet known (OED)
against an Italian team including ♣8 4 ♠ J75 ♣10 7
convicted cheat Fulvio Fantoni. ♥J 2 Futoshiki 4245 Tredoku 1739 Sudoku 13,304
Then Scottish international ♦A 7 6 3
player Sam Punch of Stirling, driv- ♣A J 3 2
ing force behind Bridge: A
MindSport for All, wins the S(McGowan) W N E
International Bridge Press 2♠ (1)
Association Personality of the Year. Pass Pass Dbl(2) Pass
And now Liz McGowan from 3♣ End
Edinburgh has has been awarded (1) Weak Two — maximum for the bid.
the British Empire Medal in the (2) Take-out but not a universal choice with
Queen's birthday honours list. too many spades and too few red cards. Quintagram
No one has done more for (3) Cauction facing a protective double.
1 Call Killer 8368
Scottish bridge than European and
Contract: 3♣, Opening Lead: ♠ 4
2 Bound
World grand master McGowan — 3 Keeping
as a player, an administrator and as spade losers. Falling for the bait, East 4 Sparrow
a writer. She is bridge columnist for switched to a diamond. 5 Housemate
The Scotsman, author of The Declarer won the ace of dia-
Scottish Bridge Union 1933-2008 An monds (fearful East held a single- Lexica 6409
Official History, chair of Bridge ton) then conceded a diamond. J
Great Britain, SBU news editor, for- West won the queen and switched
mer chair of the SBU law and ethics to a heart. Declarer rose with I T C H T

committee — and the list goes on.
She is also a big promotor of junior
bridge — the Bridge Great Britain
Junior Pairs winners lift the Liz
McGowan trophy.
Naturally, McGowan is a fabulous
player. Take this lovely deception
from the British Simultaneous Pairs.
Declaring 3♣ after East opened a
Weak 2♠ , McGowan received a
spade lead to East’s king and knew
she would suffer a third-round ruff if
she played low. She therefore false-
carded with the jack (key play no 1)
— even though this gave her three
dummy’s ace, drew trumps in two G H H
rounds, and led a second heart. R A T I O
East won the king of hearts and I S
exited safely with his third dia-
mond. Declarer ruffed in dummy, W R I T E Quiz
As with standard Sudoku, fill the grid so that every column,
ruffed dummy’s third heart and led every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. Each set
her fourth diamond, West playing Lexica 6410
of cells joined by dotted lines must add up to the target number 1 Madame Tussauds 2 Henry 3 Stone 4 ’Allo ’Allo!
the king. Instead of ruffing in 5 George Harrison 6 Tony Blair 7 Lyndon B Johnson
in its top-left corner. Within each set of cells joined by dotted P S
dummy, she discarded a spade (key
play no 2) and now, care of the lines, a digit cannot be repeated. T R E A T
8 Transylvania 9 Perth 10 Charles XII 11 Poly Styrene
lovely loser-on-loser play, West I L A
12 West Virginia 13 John Venn 14 Evelin Jahl (née
had to give ruff-and-discard. Away Cluelines Stuck on Sudoku, Killer or KenKen? Call 0901 293 Schlaak and later Herberg) 15 Walter Brennan. He won
G R A V E L
went dummy’s remaining spade as 6263 before midnight to receive four clues for any of today’s best supporting Oscars for Come and Get It (1936),
McGowan ruffed in hand. Contract puzzles. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network E I L
Kentucky (1938) and The Westerner (1940).
made. andrew.robson@thetimes.co.uk access charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm). D I S H

Word watch
David Parfitt
Disembogue
a To rid of evil spirits
b To exit a river mouth
into the sea
c To disconnect (a
railway truck) from a
train
Sinter
a A period featuring both
warm and cold weather
b To sparkle fierily
c An incrustation
deposited by hot springs
Unk-unk
a A nocturnal
Madagascan primate
b A thing whose
existence and nature is
not yet known
c A pig’s grunt
Answers on page 15
The Times Daily Quiz
1 In 2021, a branch of
which wax museum
opened in Dubai on
Bluewaters Island?
2 “Enrique” is the
Spanish equivalent of
which English male
forename?
3 In imperial measures,
224 ounces is equal to
one what?
4 Vicki Michelle played
the waitress Yvette
Carte-Blanche in which
BBC sitcom?
5 In 1978, which Beatle
co-founded the
production company
HandMade Films with
Denis O’Brien?
6 Who was the first
prime minister to be
born during Queen
The Times Quick Cryptic
1 2 3 4
8 9
11
12
13
17 18
20
22
27.06.22
For extra
puzzles
See page 10
Sudoku Easy No 13,305 Difficult No 13,306 Fiendish No 13,307
© PUZZLER MEDIA
Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.
Olav Bjortomt Suko No 3526
ALAMY
name of Marianne
Joan Elliott-Said, the
late frontwoman of
X-Ray Spex?
12 The golden delicious
variety of apple
originated in which
US state?
13 Which English
mathematician
espoused the frequency
theory of probability in
15 The Logic of Chance
(1866)?
Elizabeth II’s reign? region? 14 Which East German
athlete won the
7 Who is the only US 9 Which Scottish town Olympic women’s discus
president to have been was granted city status title in 1976 and 1980?
sworn in on an in 2012? Place the numbers 1 to 9 in the spaces so
aeroplane? 15 The winner of three that the number in each circle is equal to
10 Which teenage Oscars, which US the sum of the four surrounding spaces,
8 Erdély (Hungarian) Swedish king won the character actor (1894- and each colour total is correct
and Siebenbürgen Battle of Narva in 1700? 1970) is pictured?
(German) are names for For interactive puzzles visit
which Romanian 11 What was the stage Answers on page 15 thetimes.co.uk
No 2165 by Hurley
5 6 7 Across 2 Leave a musical group, never
1 Formidable female needing to return? (7)
attention, a little (8) 3 One working on own initiative,
5 Beat Manchester United, say describing letter S maybe? (4-
(4) 7)
10
8 Confused situation — speak 4 Mother and artist welcoming
harshly (5) popular boating facility (6)
9 Agent with old-fashioned hat: 6 Learning about island river (5)
cold-blooded one (7) 7 About to interrupt swimmer’s
11 Indifference of residents, it’s short rest (8)
out of order (11) 10 One from past who could
13 Regular payment covered by make corps see red (11)
parent, a lifesaver (6) 12 Flaunt trade name? Sort of
14 15 14 Government of right, for (8)
example, at times ignoring 15 Quickly prepared in street by
16 outsiders (6) worker maybe (7)
17 Hens one’s let free to move 16 Fold of skin initially described
after all (11) expertly with love and
20 Drive to include Rhode Island patience (6)
put in danger (7) 18 Northeastern colleague in
19
21 Son, fast mover, finding Asian country (5)
allotment (5) 19 Dispute in fee fund, every so
21 often (4)
22 Healthy hospital drink (4)
23 Lively priest I’d disturbed (8)
Down
23
1 Football Association’s time is
secure (4) * Friday’s solution on page 15