Talkshow host Jesse Kelly turns taking liberties with the facts into an art form
Rowan Moore
Best books of 2023
Best ideas books of 2023
May 2023
Observer book of the week
Foreign Bodies by Simon Schama review – pandemics and prejudice
The historian brings his considerable literary talents to this study of how blame, often mixed with antisemitism, has attended disease and vaccination through the ages
Book of the day
Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines and the Health of Nations by Simon Schama review – scientists to the rescue
The historian offers up lessons from past pandemics in an indictment of modern leaders’ response to Covid
Simon Schama on the broken relationship between humans and nature: ‘The joke’s on us. Things are amiss’
More than ever, the relationship between our two worlds has been disrupted, says the historian. If we don’t mend our ways, will we face even deadlier threats than Covid, Sars and Mpox?
March 2023
Simon Schama urges UK Jews to condemn Israel’s ‘horrifying’ shift to far right
Historian and TV presenter is among those to speak out as protest grows over settler violence against Palestinians
January 2023
More than 100 writers sign letter in solidarity with jailed UK climate activists
Ben Okri, Simon Schama, Helen Pankhurst and AL Kennedy among those saying they ‘stand with’ protesters
December 2022
The week in TV: The Patient; Slow Horses; Simon Schama’s History of Now; The Traitors – review
Steve Carell’s beard seems to grow in real time in a ponderous psychological thriller; Gary Oldman and co return for more grubby sleuthing; and Claudia Winkleman channels Anne Robinson
November 2022
TV review
Simon Schama’s History of Now review – this highly personal show is simplistic and outdated
The academic’s look at truth, democracy and art has its heart very much in the right place. But too often it’s fighting old battles rather than grasping the modern reality of untruths
April 2022
Hay festival returns with its first in-person event for three years
Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bernardine Evaristo, Elif Shafak and Benedict Cumberbatch are among those taking part in the 11-day gathering in Welsh border town
September 2021
Martina Hall obituary
Maker of arts and history films for TV with an eye for detail and a flair for celebrating the creative gifts of women
November 2020
Lockdown culture
Culture to cheer you up during the second lockdown: part one
As parts of the UK enters another month – at least – of being stuck indoors, our critics pick out top music, games, books, TV, dance and art fixes to lift your spirits
September 2020
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: The Romantics and Us With Simon Schama; Louis Theroux: Life on the Edge and more – review
TV tonight
TV tonight: Simon Schama on how the French Revolution changed art for ever
June 2020
Israel's West Bank plans condemned by leading British Jewish figures
Simon Schama and Sir Malcolm Rifkind among those warning that annexation ‘would have grave consequences’ for Palestinians
June 2018
Shearer v Schama: ex-England striker refuses football lesson from historian
Shearer had to remind Schama he had played in World Cup matches, as Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan continued their social media feud
March 2018
Civilisations takes on hurdles undreamt of by Kenneth Clark
Cultural sensitivities, red tape and signage plagued the making of the BBC Two series
February 2018
Civilisations' striking similarity to 1969 series signals slow evolution of arts TV
BBC offers spectacular global revamp of original, but with little change in its presentation
BBC looks beyond the west to retell the story of civilisation
Civilisations – note the plural – reworks the classic 1969 TV series into a truly global history of art
Civilisations: new BBC series 'goes to the heart of human creativity'
Simon Schama, Mary Beard and David Olusoga explore triumphs of culture and ingenuity
