Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit story originated in African folktales, expert argues
The unacknowledged debt Potter owed to the Brer Rabbit stories told by enslaved Africans deserves to be recognised, says scholar
February 2022
The books of my life
Olivia Laing: ‘I’m sorry, but Jane Eyre is a horrendous little hysteric’
Art Weekly newsletter
Cosmic Stonehenge secrets, Ai Weiwei looks back, and gay sex 11,000 years ago – the week in art
October 2021
Country diary
Country diary 1971: quietude on the cool wooded heights
4 October 1971: The wooded area overlooking the northern waters of Windermere is largely man-made but clothed in a deceptively natural beauty
May 2021
Peter Rabbit 2: the Runaway review – amusingly self-aware sequel
Peter Rabbit 2 review – James Corden’s unfunny bunny scampers back
January 2021
Playwright Mark Ravenhill: why I took up ballet after my mum died
He tried dance to cope with grief – and found himself in a class with ‘25 mostly retired ladies’. It all fed into a new play, about his mother, his childhood and his obsession with Jemima Puddle-Duck
December 2020
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Bridgerton; Motherland; Roald & Beatrix; BBC Sports Personality; Marcus Rashford
Netflix’s new costume drama was wonderfully preposterous – plus, when the father of Matilda met the mother of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle
February 2020
Notebook
Comic capers in Bologna, magic mushrooms and farewell to the fridge
Rachel Cooke
Continuing our new series, our writer reflects on the beauty and intelligence of graphic novels
December 2019
The Tailor of Gloucester review – tabby triumphs in custom-made show
Brightly designed, this jaunty version of Beatrix Potter’s seasonal tale boasts a scene-stealing Simpkin the cat
June 2018
Take the kids to …
Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top house, the Lakes: ‘It feels like a game of Potter I-spy’ – review
Delve into the world of natural wonders that inspired the author and explore her home on a Lake District family day out
March 2018
Peter Rabbit review – unfunny bunny
James Corden and co bring nothing to the carrot patch in this crass take on the Beatrix Potter classic
Peter Rabbit review – in a hole with James Corden's unfunny bunny
This attempt to turn Beatrix Potter’s creation into a sassy, low-grade British Bugs – voiced by Corden – is cynical and tiresome
Beatrix Potter would not have liked Peter Rabbit film - biographer
Sony adaptation in which James Corden is voice of bullying rabbit would have appalled author
February 2018
Peter Rabbit review: James Corden's twerking bunny gets away with it – just
The new Beatrix Potter adaptation tries to follow in the footsteps of the blockbuster Paddington movies, and largely manages to pull it off
September 2017
Film blog
James Corden's Peter Rabbit: another kids' classic wrecked forever
A new trailer reveals Beatrix Potter’s gentle rabbit has been turned into a house-trashing, cocky jerk. It looks like he’s gone the way of Postman Pat and Thunderbirds
July 2017
Books blog
Well done Unesco for honouring the culture of the Lake District
Brief letters
A hearty welcome for Whaley McWhaleface
December 2016
Beatrix Potter's landscape inspirations – in pictures
AS Byatt: Beatrix Potter and the beginnings of my need to be a writer
