SwayBlog

Book of the dayFictionReviewBased on real events, this tale of the OED’s compilation explores how words take on different meanings for men and women In 1901, a concerned member of the public wrote to the men compiling the first Oxford English Dictionary to let them know that there was a word missing. In 1857 the Unregistered Words Committee of the Philological Society of London had decided that Britain needed a successor to Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary.

White imagines sex ‘filling up the city’ … the Manhattan skyline. Photograph: AlamyWhite imagines sex ‘filling up the city’ … the Manhattan skyline. Photograph: AlamyFictionReviewWhitman, Mapplethorpe and Edmund White star in Megan Bradbury’s beautifully written debut about what defines America’s most famous city The American writer Lydia Davis has compared her mini-stories to buildings, because like skyscrapers they are surrounded by an imposing blank space. It’s a pretty analogy that didn’t mean much to me until I read Everyone Is Watching.

How I wroteThe death of wannabe starlet Elizabeth Short became entwined in Ellroy’s mind with the murder of his mother – and inspired his bestselling novel I had written six novels before Dahlia, but my primary income throughout this time had come not from books, but from being a golf caddy. At first, I worked at the Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, but around the time my first book, Brown’s Requiem, was published in 1981, I moved to Westchester County, about half an hour outside New York City.

Premier League This article is more than 3 months oldMute response to war exposes football’s complex relationship with geopoliticsThis article is more than 3 months oldBarney RonayThe game is now tangled up in tides of mutual enmity and alliance – this is what sportswashing looks like, it turns out David Beckham is clearly a very complex man, or at least a very complex set of overlapping brand identities. A few months back Beckham addressed a rapt audience at a St John’s Wood synagogue about the foundational importance of Judaism in his life.

Oakland AthleticsOakland A’s bench coach apologizes for 'Nazi salute' in dugout Ryan Christenson says: ‘I made a mistake and will not deny it’ Bench coach apologies for ‘racist and horrible salute’ after win Friday’s Cubs-Cards game postponed after eighth positive test Oakland Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson has apologized after making a gesture which the Major League Baseball team said “looked like a Nazi salute” following Thursday’s 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers.

Greek Islands holidaysCorfu, Kos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini are among Greece’s most popular islands – but there’s tranquillity beyond the hotspots SantoriniViewed from an incoming ferry, the island’s semi-circular volcanic caldera, surrounded by towering reddish-brown cliffs and crowned by whitewashed houses perched perilously above the sea, is awe-inspiring. The black volcanic beaches on the eastern shore, which would be the defining feature of a lesser destination, seem here to be the cherry on the cake.

Pope Francis This article is more than 3 years oldPope Francis says gossip is 'a plague worse than Covid'This article is more than 3 years oldStraying from prepared weekly blessing, pontiff urges faithful not to air grievances in public Pope Francis said on Sunday that gossip is a “plague worse than Covid” that is seeking to divide the Roman Catholic church. Francis strayed from his prepared text in his weekly blessing to reiterate his frequent complaint about gossiping within church communities and the Vatican bureaucracy.

A John Bulmer photograph of students night-climbing on the roof of one of Cambridge University’s historic buildings, circa June 1959. Photograph: John Bulmer/Popperfoto/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenA John Bulmer photograph of students night-climbing on the roof of one of Cambridge University’s historic buildings, circa June 1959. Photograph: John Bulmer/Popperfoto/Getty ImagesThe ObserverPhotographyThe great British photographer is celebrated for his 1960s photos of the industrial north of England. Less well known are these early images of the secret night climbers at Cambridge University

Jack Barsky in Atlanta. Photograph: Johnathon Kelso/The GuardianJack Barsky in Atlanta. Photograph: Johnathon Kelso/The GuardianEspionageRaised in East Germany, Jack Barsky abandoned his mother, brother, wife and son to spy for the KGB. In America, he started a second family. And then it all came crashing down... On a chilly morning in December 1988, computer analyst Jack Barsky embarked on his usual morning commute to his office on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, leaving his wife and baby daughter at home in Queens.