When Steven Van Zandt convinced AZAPO to take Paul Simon off a hit list and what Paul Simon really thought of Nelson Mandela

'Anyway, I said to them, “Listen, this is not gonna help anybody if you knock off Paul Simon. Trust me on this, alright? Let’s put that aside for the moment. Give me a year or so, you know, six months'.

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A post modern murder mystery

'Krystian Bala insisted that his violent novel was a sophisticated work of fiction, but Jacek Wroblewski was certain that it held the key to an unsolved murder'.

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Deborah Mitford

'She laughs. Her sense of humour and recognition of the absurdities of life are apparent throughout both her book and our conversation, bearing out her friend Alan Bennett's remark: "Deborah Devonshire is not someone to whom one can say, 'Joking apart . . .' Joking never is apart: with her it's of the essence, even at the most serious and indeed saddest moments."'

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'Tarzan the Worst'

'Denny Miller, who has died aged 80, was a former college basketball star picked to play the title role in the 1959 remake of the 1932 classic Tarzan the Ape Man, a version which, by common consent, is probably the worst Tarzan film ever made'.

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Soho Pam

'Pamela Jennings, who has died aged 48, was known in her central London stamping ground as “Soho Pam”; a professional beggar, she nightly brought her considerable powers of persuasion to the clientele of such establishments as The French House and the Coach & Horses'.


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The man who wouldn't die

'The plot to kill Michael Malloy for life-insurance money seemed foolproof—until the conspirators actually tried it'.

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Everything was fake but her wealth

'Ida Wood never had any intention of renewing contact with the outside world, but on March 5, 1931, death made it necessary. At four o’clock that afternoon, the 93-year-old did something she hadn’t done in 24 years of living at the Herald Square Hotel: she voluntarily opened the door, craned her neck down the corridor, and called for help'.


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