On my radar: Bobby Baker’s cultural highlights
The artist Bobby Baker was born in Kent in 1950 and studied painting at St Martins School of Art,In her work, which combines performance with drawing and installation, she highlights the undervalued aspects of women’s lives, often with reference to food and cooking,In 1995, she founded Daily Life Ltd to make art that “explores and celebrates everyday life and human behaviour”,Her artwork An Edible Family in a Mobile Home, originally created in 1976 and featuring a family composed of cakes, biscuits and meringues, is at the Whitworth, Manchester, until 20 April,Baker lives and works in London.
Wifedom by Anna FunderI listened to this on Audible, which is my favourite thing to do when I’m painting and drawing and buzzing about,It tells the story of George Orwell’s wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy,Funder expresses her passion for Orwell, but in all the biographies written about him, by men, she found scarcely a mention of his wife,Eileen was so fundamentally a part of his work and his life,It’s such a revelation how hard their existence was, and how much she supported him.
It’s an astonishing account, moving, tragic but also fascinating.Really worth reading.The Mall Wood Green, London N22I am, I would say, a naturally gifted shopper.I just love shopping and I get very excited in supermarkets and covered markets.It’s shopping for anything – art materials or kitchen utensils or whatever.
We moved to Wood Green a few years ago and I’ve started going to this shopping centre much more.Architecturally it looks pretty grim but I have enormous affection for it.A few years ago they set up one of these NHS health assessment centres inside [the mall], which is so convenient.My favourite bit is the kitchenware shop [Karaca]; the guy who runs it is rather assertive that everything they stock is the best.National Gallery, London WC2NThe National Gallery has to be the tops, really.
As an art student, I very frequently went in there and copied paintings, particularly Cezanne’s Les Grandes Baigneuses.What with life and family, I find it really difficult to get to galleries, and I’ve had so much surgery over the years that I live a lot online – on the National Gallery website you can access the catalogue and look at paintings really close up.But I’m determined to spend more time in the actual gallery.They’ve got a new show on about Sienese painting that I’m really looking forward to.The Week in ArtMy passion is painting and sculpture, truly, but I was very disillusioned with that back in the early 70s: it was so elitist and male.
So I got into performance art, which was extraordinarily liberating,Now, through all these brilliant podcasts, I’m learning more about the visual arts,The Week in Art is absolutely my favourite,The host Ben Luke has got such a wonderful voice,The last episode I listened to was about Anselm Kiefer.
I used to be very passionate about his work, and the extremely interesting conversation with the curator reignited my enthusiasm.For a disabled person, the online world is extraordinarily enriching.Sh!t Theatre: Or What’s Left of UsSh!t Theatre should be on the NHS.They are an incredibly talented company, clever and witty but also quite political, and they take on unusual subject matter.The director they worked with, Adam Brace, died suddenly in 2023, so this latest show is, in a very helpful, thoughtful way, dealing with grief.
It’s about their visit to a folk club in Leeds to do research, and all the people they meet there, and it’s interspersed with singing.It was really so moving.The run at the Soho theatre is over now, but they are touring the show in April.Crime dramaAs I’ve grown older, I’ve got into crime drama.I find it powerful and it’s often incredibly well written.
My absolute favourite is Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with the fantastic Mariska Hargitay – I just watch and rewatch it.I also love the Irish series Kin and the Bradford-set Virdee, both about organised crime.And The Turkish Detective, which is stunningly shot and very exciting.And of course the absolute best is Happy Valley.It must be something to do with watching baddies who do terrible things getting caught – when you’re older, you need that catharsis.
Sunday with Nigel Havers: ‘We’ll take the dog for a walk, she’s a rare poodle-poodle’
The actor talks about breakfast, dinner, dogs and horses, and shares his tips on racing and learning linesUp early? I like to listen to Paddy O’Connell at 9am on Radio 4. It’s a semi-political, opinionated show, with guests talking about the news. It’s amusing, witty… and I’ve been a guest, so obviously highly intelligent.What’s next? We’ll take the dog for a walk. She’s called Charlie and she’s a very rare breed – a black poodle-poodle
On my radar: Bobby Baker’s cultural highlights
The artist Bobby Baker was born in Kent in 1950 and studied painting at St Martins School of Art. In her work, which combines performance with drawing and installation, she highlights the undervalued aspects of women’s lives, often with reference to food and cooking. In 1995, she founded Daily Life Ltd to make art that “explores and celebrates everyday life and human behaviour”. Her artwork An Edible Family in a Mobile Home, originally created in 1976 and featuring a family composed of cakes, biscuits and meringues, is at the Whitworth, Manchester, until 20 April. Baker lives and works in London
Bill Dare obituary
Bill Dare, who has died aged 64 as a passenger in a road accident, was an influential force in TV and radio satire for almost 40 years. He was the puppet master – literally – producing eight series of Spitting Image for ITV in the 1990s, then figuratively in creating Dead Ringers for BBC radio.“We know how far we can go – as long as we are only upsetting some of the people some of the time,” Dare said during his time on Spitting Image (1990-94). He held back on featuring Woody Allen when the Hollywood star was accused of sexually abusing his adopted daughter Dylan (“It is a very difficult, very sensitive subject,” he said). But he had no qualms about introducing Jesus Christ as a drug-smoking hippy, only to discover that it provoked protest from both Christians and Muslims (who revere Christ as a holy prophet)
The Guide #181: TV has given up on live music – but social media won’t let it die
Whenever, in a weak moment, I find myself mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, it usually isn’t long before I encounter a compellingly fuzzy video of a band performing on a long-since-cancelled TV show: Shaun Ryder with a bowl cut swaying awkwardly to Happy Mondays’ Step On on a 1990 edition of Top of the Pops; or Cedric and Omar from At the Drive-In thrashing away to One-Armed Scissor on Later with Jools Holland; or riot grrrlers Huggy Bear mounting an impromptu feminist protest against the lads and ladettes of The Word after their performance of Her Jazz.On Instagram, X and TikTok there are tons of these accounts, dedicated to clipping and uploading live studio performances from the 80s, 90s and 00s, and saddos like me ready to lap them up (I won’t link to them here because I suspect lots of them might be violating copyright). The appetite for these old performances clearly hasn’t gone unnoticed by the TV networks that used to host them. Last week there was much excitement online as Paramount Plus added 50 episodes of MTV Unplugged to its platform, featuring everyone from Nirvana to Mariah Carey (though only, it seem, in the US – curse you, Paramount Plus!). In the UK the iPlayer continues to share vintage episodes of Top of the Pops at a steady clip, shortly after their BBC Four rebroadcast
Noel Clarke has made ‘wild allegations’ against his abuse accusers, court told
Noel Clarke has made “wild allegations” against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct but has not explained why they would lie about him, the high court heard on the first day of his libel claim against the Guardian.The 49-year-old actor is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast published between April 2021 and March 2022 in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.In written submissions, Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said: “[The defendant] will adduce evidence from 16 women who experienced C’s [the claimant’s] misconduct first-hand, some of them on multiple occasions. There is no motive for them to lie and [the claimant] has not suggested any, beyond making wild allegations as to an alleged conspiracy.“These witnesses have remained willing to give their evidence voluntarily despite the fact that, over the course of litigation, [the claimant] has published a number of statements on social media and elsewhere expressly or impliedly denigrating those who have made allegations against him, no doubt in the hope of deterring women from cooperating with [the defendant]
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s tariffs: ‘Can you believe we’re shaking down Canada?’
Late-night hosts recapped another week of mixed messages on Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, government cuts and chaos from the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).Donald Trump moved ahead with his plan to dismantle the Department of Education this week, as its secretary, Linda McMahon, confirmed her “final mission” to dissolve the agency in a staff email. “WWE co-founder Linda McMahon will supervise the important work of dismantling the Department of Education,” Jimmy Kimmel marveled on Thursday evening. “Another genius tactical move, I’ll tell you why: he keeps getting attacked by all these smart people. What does he do? He outlaws smart
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