9/11: the 10th anniversarySeptember 11 2001 This article is more than 12 years oldHumble 9/11 hero relives tale of the twin towers for touristsThis article is more than 12 years oldFormer firefighter Mickey Kross finds himself in great demand as a Ground Zero guide on the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center attackAt 10.28am on 11 September 2001, Lieutenant Mickey Kross of the New York Fire Department was in stairwell B on the fourth floor of the World Trade Centre's north tower when it began to shake violently.
MoviesObituaryJoanna Dunham obituaryStage and screen actor who played Mary Magdalene in the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told and appeared in several popular TV dramas of the 1970sThe actor Joanna Dunham, who has died aged 78, played Mary Magdalene in the Hollywood blockbuster The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), directed by George Stevens, with Max von Sydow as Jesus and Charlton Heston as John the Baptist. She had been recommended to Stevens for the role by Marilyn Monroe, who had seen her performance as Juliet on tour with the Old Vic in New York in 1962, after she had taken over from Judi Dench in Franco Zeffirelli’s production.
MoviesReviewAdapted from a school play by crime writer Hannah, this low-budget British whodunnit lacks the cinematic flair to match its clever songs and plotting
This low-budget British whodunnit arrives well-timed amid a Rian Johnson-prompted boom in murder mystery movies. It’s not quite, as it claims, the first murder mystery musical movie: that honour might well go to François Ozon’s 8 Women, and Stephen Sondheim once wrote a screenplay and songs for the unproduced The Chorus Girl Murder Case.
Kumamon celebrates his birthday on 12 March, 2014 in Kumamoto, Japan. Photograph: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty ImagesKumamon, a cartoon bear created to promote tourism in an overlooked part of Japan, has become a billion-dollar phenomenon. Now, a new academic field is trying to pinpoint what makes things cute – and why we can’t resist them
by Neil SteinbergOn 14 April 2016, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu, toppling buildings and sending residents rushing into the streets.
No escape … a haunted house is at the centre of While You Sleep. Photograph: Tetyana Kochneva/AlamyNo escape … a haunted house is at the centre of While You Sleep. Photograph: Tetyana Kochneva/AlamyThrillersReviewMerritt’s other life as historical crime novelist SJ Parris serves her well in this ghost story set on a Scottish island
The haunted house – if not possessed by literal ghosts, then by traumatic memories – is a trope writers have used for centuries.
DanceInterviewFishnets out, waacking in! Julia Cheng on how she transformed CabaretLyndsey WinshipHow did this one-woman whirlwind go from dance school reject to Olivier-nominated choreographer of Cabaret? Via Bruce Lee, hip-hop and a kick up the butt
It all started in a Luton youth club. “They had a party night on Thursdays,” Julia Cheng tells me. “People in a circle dancing to Puff Daddy. It was probably on until 8pm but that feels really late when you’re 12.
BooksInterviewJacqueline Rose: ‘I wanted to have a truer, more disturbing account of motherhood’Alex ClarkAccording to the novelist, mothers are punished whatever they do. She talks about trans parents, the male psyche and why Sheryl Sandberg’s advice for working mothers isn’t feasible
Everyone in the world has or has had one, yet our conception of what it is to be a mother is fatally flawed, argues Jacqueline Rose. The consequences of our devotion to that skewed vision are dire, ranging from a systemic hatred of single mothers, punished for perceived sexual and social irresponsibility, to an expectation of maternal perfection and joyfulness at damaging odds with the messy reality of birthing and raising children.
Inspect a gadgetEggsIn the first of a new weekly column, our gadget guru puts a square egg-maker to the test. Does it work and, more to the point, why would you want square eggs?
What?The Eddingtons Egg Cuber (£5.50, Amazon), a compressible, right-angled enclosure in which eggs may be compacted into cube shape.
Why?So they fit better in sandwiches? I don’t know. Look, either the idea of a square egg excites you or it doesn’t.
The ObserverLanguage This article is more than 11 months oldMay I have a word about… replacing violent words with more positive languageThis article is more than 11 months oldJonathan BouquetA communications guru wants us to tone down ‘undesirable’ words and phrases. How undesirable
When exactly did we become such a collection of milksops, pussyfooters and scaredy cats? This thorny query arises after the pronouncement from Anna Taylor, a communications director based in the US, who has written a guide called Evolving from Violent Language, in which she enumerates words and phrases that are now deemed undesirable.
Ask Annalisa BarbieriParents and parentingIt worries me that she doesn’t play with lots of other children, but seems obsessed with one friend. Annalisa Barbieri advises a readerMy daughter is having trouble with friends at school. She is in year 3 and obsessed with one girl. She is not interested in other girls and I’ve seen her ignore them while she chases off after the girl she likes.
This wouldn’t be a problem if it were mutual.