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“How could they do that to those beautiful girls?” my great-aunt Mary suddenly said as we sat quietly chatting in The Admiral, her local pub in Islington, London. “Every day they used to play with my children – then they simply disappeared. A year later, we learned the whole family had been murdered.” The burden of her disbelief still weighed heavily. I didn’t interrupt the remarkable story that had been unfolding since we’d entered The Admiral an hour before. It was 1951, and I’d recently come to London – the home of many relatives. A cousin suggested I look up our great-aunt. So, one evening I knocked on her door in a nondescript block of flats that sat in the middle of ruins. The area had been heavily bombed in the Blitz…

Buying a chaˆteau in France requires an immense amount of patience. First, to close the deal—because there is almost always a complicated backstory. And second, to restore the place—because big, old houses always need a lot of work. Casa Lopez owner and artistic director Pierre Sauvage encountered these issues firsthand with his 15th-century estate in south Normandy, and navigated them with his signature sunny style. The previous owners had been enmeshed in a decades-long row, which led to dividing the 80-acre property, with its manor house, stables, gardener’s cottage, chapel, and outbuildings, in two. Sauvage researched, negotiated, and waited until he was able to acquire both halves from the feuding brothers, then reunited them into one glorious seat. By that time, it was in sorry shape. The grounds were overgrown, “and there…

After two weeks apart, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez had an emotional reunion on March 14. “Alex flew to the Dominican Republic, and Jennifer was excited to see him in person,” says a source close to Lopez, who headed to the Caribbean nation last month to shoot her upcoming romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding. Hopping on a jet for a romantic rendezvous may seem par for the course for the superstars, but Rodriguez’s gesture followed an explosive weekend that saw the once-giddy couple confirm news that their relationship has been on shaky ground. In a brief statement on March 13—hours after a swirl of breakup rumors hit the Internet—Lopez and Rodriguez admitted they’ve been “working through some things” in their relationship. But after four years together, neither is willing to call…

Ed Ong, founder of Dwell Interior Design, firmly believes that aesthetics aside, one’s abode must be welcoming. “Ultimately, we are designing a home, so apart from looking great, it must be great to live in,” he says. This approach informed his take on a project that involved transforming a four-bedroom residence in central Singapore into a sleek space for entertaining. The home of a power couple with a preference for a luxurious and contemporary interior, the requirements were simple; the owners wanted a modern but elegant aesthetic that would complement the Minotti furniture in their 2,885sqft apartment. FIT LIKE A GLOVE As the couple frequently entertain, they wanted a large living space with adequate seating for large gatherings. The homeowners also favoured silver travertine, which they wanted to feature in the living room. While…

PHOTOS: ALEX BRAMALL/PA PHOTOS. ALEXI LUBOMIRSKI/PA PHOTOS. ALPHA. ANWAR HUSSAIN COLLECTION. CHRIS ALLERTON/SUSSEX ROYAL. GETTY IMAGES. HUGO BURNAND/CLARENCE HOUSE/PA PHOTOS.JASON BELL/CAMERA PRESS. MATT HOLYOAK/CAMERA PRESS. MARIO TESTINO/PA PHOTOS. PRINCESS EUGENIE & JACK BROOKSBANK. REX FEATURES. STEWART DONALD/SIPA. YOUSUF KARSH/CAMERA PRESS…

In 94 years, the Oscars have showcased surprises, protests, an envelope mix-up and even a streaker—but there had never been a moment like this. On March 27 comedian Chris Rock took the stage to present the award for Best Documentary—but first launched a few typically edgy jibes at celebrities in the front row, including Denzel Washington, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. Then he turned to Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see ya,” Rock said to the actress, 50, who sported a shaved head with her couture gown because of hair loss from alopecia (see sidebar). Smith, 53, the Best Actor front-runner for his role in King Richard, initially chuckled while Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes. Then Smith got up, strode onto…

I’D BEEN BITTEN by ants before and it had never been a big deal; the bites healed and went away without any issues. But when I was bitten by an ant on the top of my left foot over 20 years ago, I had no idea at the time how much my life was about to change. This ant bite just wouldn’t heal. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 11 years old. At the time it was incredibly surprising – my mother’s family didn’t have a history of diabetes and I didn’t know my father’s family. Little did I know that when I connected with my father’s family in my 20s, I would meet a whole host of people with all the same health woes as me. I…

When the alarm woke Oksana Samkova on January 12 this year, she rolled over and looked out her bedroom window to check on the weather. That evening she was heading out on a night dive at Port Noarlunga in the St Vincent Gulf, 30 kilometres south of Adelaide, as part of her advanced scuba diving course. Instead of the calm, sunny day she had hoped for, what she saw was grey, blustery weather – with the wind so strong it was sending her outdoor furniture flying. A little panicked, Ukrainian-born Oksana called the diving company to find out if the night dive had been called off. But they assured her that the weather would settle down. The dive would go ahead. That evening at sunset, around 8.30pm, the group of eight divers…

A half-dozen companies are potentially ready to spend $80 billion for C-Band, a new set of airwaves that promise to fix the perilous state of American 5G, at an FCC auction. That’s a vast amount of money, and it shows how important C-Band is. But what is C-Band, and what does it mean for 5G? Do you need a C-Band phone? Is C-Band a new frequency? Should you be scared of C-Band? I can explain. RECOVERING THE SATELLITES According to wireless testing firm Rohde and Schwarz, the C-band is all frequencies between 4GHz and 8GHz. When US wireless geeks talk about C-Band, though, they’re talking about 3.7GHz to 4.2GHz—and specifically, in this case, the range from 3.7GHz to 3.98GHz. This frequency had been used for satellite TV since the 1970s, but as C-Band…

Here we were worried about the future of performance at Lexus. The midsize GS sport sedan and its spicy GS F halo flatlined last year, and Lexus seems to have busied itself diluting the F hot-rod division’s name with flash-over-dash F Sport styling packages available even on its hybrids, crossovers, and hybrid crossovers. Only a single full-blown F model—the RC F coupe—is left, and an entire generation has grown up unaware that the shrieking V-10-powered LF-A sports car existed. No wonder the recently updated IS sedan, in particular the IS 350 F Sport model, feels like it’s the chest compressions keeping Lexus performance alive. The IS 350’s sporty ride and handing balance is satisfying and fun, though its 311-hp V-6 engine could use a jolt. But stand back, everyone, because a defibrillator has…

It’s a milestone birthday and the Duke of Cambridge has some major life changes ahead as he turns 40. Prince William, who marks his big day on Tuesday, is planning to relocate his family from London to Berkshire this summer and he and the Duchess look set to make their base at Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate. Prince George, nine next month, and seven-year-old Princess Charlotte leave Thomas’s Battersea Prep School at the end of this term and, with Prince Louis, four, are expected to attend schools near their new home from September. The move will see the family become neighbours to the 96-year-old monarch at Windsor Castle as she deals with her ongoing mobility issues. Her Majesty is no doubt thrilled her grandson, granddaughter-in-law and great-grandchildren will be able to drop in…

He’s spent four decades in showbiz, appeared in everything from Beethoven to The Hunger Games and starred in two beloved movies with Meryl Streep, but Stanley Tucci humbly says he’s still waiting to feel like he’s “made it” in Hollywood. “You do get to a point where you think, ‘Okay. I’ll be able to get some kind of work,’ but you go through lulls,” says Tucci, 60. “Even after The Devil Wears Prada. I waited around. Couldn’t get a job. It’s only recently where I’ve started to know where my next job is coming from.” The wry New York native’s career is busier than ever—even as he’s locked down in England with his wife, Felicity Blunt, 39, their two children, Emilia, 2, and Matteo, 5, and his three older children, Camilla,…

What are the ten most memorable experiences in your very well-lived life? • A happy childhood. I assisted my father in the farm and particularly enjoyed watching during harvest time. On weekends, the family had a picnic with the most delicious food, including fish caught fresh from the pond. • Listening to my mother play the piano. I would sit in one corner while she played and listen in one corner when she was tutoring someone. We travelled to Manila by train to buy piano pieces and I loved the busy Rizal Avenue. This, plus summer vacations in Pagsanjan sparked my interest in travel. • Going to college. I was given a scholarship grant and student assistantship by my Fabella relatives so I was able to go to college. Those years were spent…

Marine filmmaker Dave Riggs was on one of his regular jobs in February, 2006 – wildlife spotting for an annual bluefin tuna research expedition in the Southern Ocean. Departing Esperance, Western Australia, at 5am, the boat was steaming through typically rough summer waters for four hours when around mid-morning, at the edge of the continental shelf – almost 40 kilometres offshore, where the ocean plunges from 100 to 800 metres in depth – he saw it. Keeping a close watch on the tuna lures trailing from the stern, Dave suddenly caught movement from the corner of his eye. He swung around as a huge black dorsal fin briefly rose into sight, carving through the swells about 30 metres from the boat. “What the hell was that?” he said to himself, but he…

IN 1955, AT AGE 12, I BECAME obsessed with the idea of recording an album for our parents for Christmas. My sister, aged nine, brother, ten, and myself would sing our favourite songs from the era – an unusual undertaking for a child in those days. My sister and I used to take our time washing the dishes so we could sing our hearts out to the latest songs by Doris Day, Pat Boone, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Lynn. There were also a few child stars at the time, like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, who gave us inspiration. We all loved the movie Hans Christian Andersen starring Danny Kaye, with songs The Inch Worm, The Ugly Duckling and The King’s New Clothes. I remember feeling the romance and sadness of Hans…

“AND SO IT BEGINS,” I said to myself. We were a few minutes into our long walk, but getting to this first step had taken several years. Six, to be exact. In the summer of 2011, my friend Nino and I started talking over lunch about the Camino de Santiago. Only a handful of friends seemed to know about the pilgrimage route, and I was surprised that he not only knew about it but, like me, also had it on his bucket list. It took another six years before we finally found ourselves at the foot of the famous yellow arrows in the spring of 2017. Over those years we had grown to be more than just friends, and we thought of this walk as one long date. There is a network of…

Wireless Battery Management Systems A BMS manages the charging and discharging of a battery pack by monitoring its current, voltage, temperature, and state of charge so it can safely be used for thousands of charge/discharge cycles. This monitoring has traditionally been done via copper wires connecting each cell, but switching to 2.4-GHz wireless communication can eliminate 75 to 200 pounds of wiring. This also eliminates time delays and makes it possible to time-synchronize measurements across the entire pack. GM’s Ultium battery packs arriving in 2022 will use a system by Analog Devices Inc., and TI Automotive introduced a system it will roll out shortly thereafter. Mercedes-Benz Hyperscreen This 56-inch-wide curved whopper of an instrument and infotainment screen will make its debut in the Mercedes EQS. Its aluminum silicate Gorilla Glass surface is highly…

In a few short weeks I will be going to watch my 40th performance of Les Misérables. I fell in love with the songs back in 1985 when they were first released – ‘Bring Him Home’, ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ and ‘On My Own’. Even though I hadn’t read the Victor Hugo novel and knew very little about the musical, the songs captured my attention and I happily sang along with gusto whenever I heard them on the radio. Fast forward five years and I embarked on a trip around the world with my wife and two-year-old daughter. On one of our stops in Vancouver, Canada, I saw a large advertising banner promoting Les Misérables and immediately suggested to my wife that we book tickets. On the drive to the theatre,…

At the January 2016 Pitti Uomo, the twice-yearly trade fair in Florence, Italy, where trendspotters soak up the latest in men’s fashion from around the globe, a crew of young people paraded through the 16th century Fortezza da Basso to promote sweatshirts and caps with the word “Supreme” in bold white Futura font on a bright red background. They looked just like the ones that run $150 or more for fans lucky enough to find them in stores—and many multiples of that from resellers online. But the hats and sweatshirts weren’t made by the New York streetwear brand. They were the work of an Italian company that had hijacked Supreme’s look and logo—in other words, a shameless knockoff. And thanks to a combination of entrepreneurial creativity (some might call it cynicism)…

When the Queen came to the throne, Prince Philip’s ambitious uncle boasted “the House of Mountbatten now reigned”. But Queen Mary, fearing the name of the Windsor dynasty created by her husband in 1917 was under threat, persuaded the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, to raise the issue with the Queen. The new monarch issued a proclamation that she and her descendants “shall be styled and known as the House of Windsor”, leaving the Duke to fume: “I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children. I’m nothing but a bloody amoeba.” Eight years later the Queen modified her decree to announce her descendants, if non-royal, could be called Mountbatten-Windsor. But while he might have had to settle for second best in their public…

Following a year that repeatedly tested their union, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s 2021 isn’t looking much brighter. “Their marriage is beyond repair,” says a family source. “Kim’s mind is on divorce.” Indeed, multiple sources close to the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star say that Kardashian has arrived at a painful crossroads in her life with the rapper, devastated at the notion of disrupting the worlds of their four children but pushed to a breaking point on the heels of his exceedingly controversial and troubling behavior. After launching an unlikely run for President last July, West made a series of personal and often baffling public statements both on Twitter and during a July 19 campaign speech, where he revealed that the couple had discussed aborting their first child, North, now…

It was July 2014. We were building a smaller house and getting ready to move when my husband became very ill. He had to spend nine weeks in assisted living, leaving me to do everything in our new home. By night fall, I felt as if I was moving in slow motion. One such evening, as I reached for some lotion for my aged hands, I noticed that my bluebird diamond wedding ring – which I had worn for more than half a century – was missing. My finger was naked. I was devastated. I looked in every drawer, every cupboard, and in the car. No luck. My family told me to retrace my steps. That would be a task, for that day I had closed a bank account, taken my car in…

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have become well-versed in creating little moments of romance for each other. “When I travel, if we’re apart, she has the hotel put rose petals in the shape of a heart on my bed,” says de Rossi, 48, sitting beside DeGeneres on a Zoom call from their Montecito, Calif., backyard. “Every single time over the last 16 years. And it always catches me off guard.” De Rossi will also “leave little notes around, which is really sweet and thoughtful,” says DeGeneres, 63. The couple, who wed in August 2008 after same-sex marriage was legalized in California, were also a source of strength for each other after former employees of DeGeneres’s talk show alleged a toxic work environment last year. “It was just such a…

CES 2021 was virtual, but the parade of PC hardware went on regardless. Big names AMD, Intel, and Nvidia all made splashy announcements, and PC manufacturers followed in their wake with new products, many coming soon. No time to sift through all our CES coverage? No problem! Read on for our Best of CES picks—the most intriguing and innovative products we saw. AMD RYZEN 5000 MOBILE Last year you couldn’t find a high-end gaming laptop with a Ryzen CPU in it to save your life. This year the tables are turning, with probably a dozen different designs announced or in the works. That should confirm the confidence laptop makers have in AMD’s Ryzen 5000 Mobile, based on the award-winning Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 desktop chip. While we don’t have independent testing yet, we expect…

THE TIME HAD COME, the writing was on the wall – we were not going to make old bones! I had been given a terminal cancer diagnosis in October 2019 with a prognosis of five years. My husband’s atrial fibrillation episodes were happening with increasing regularity – and his father died of heart-related problems at exactly his age. We had cared for my parents in their own home for the last few years of their lives – a very bonding experience – and had bought their home when they died in their 90s. The usual clause about having to clear one’s chattels before selling had been glossed over. After all, we were family, and they were not capable of clearing anything as their health had declined. Out of respect, we did not…

IN 2010 there was drought in China, a 260-squarekilometre ice island broke off one of Greenland’s main glaciers, wildfires raged across Russia. And Finland recorded its highest ever temperature as the mercury hit 37.2ºC. Professor Petteri Taalas, then head of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, experienced first-hand one consequence of global warming. When he visited his holiday house close to the Russian border, the fires were close enough to set off his smoke alarms. “When you are close to these things, it has a big impact,” he says today. Now a year into his second four-year term as Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), he has the job of sounding the alarm on climate change to the world. And as the world looks forward to a time beyond the COVID-19 pandemic,…

Having lived my whole life in the city, the countryside takes some getting used to. A couple of years ago, my husband and I traded a city duplex for a 19th-century farmhouse, and soon discovered what happens when you run out of milk for your coffee. Either you borrow your neighbour’s cows, literally, or you drive 15 kilometres to the ‘corner store’ over gravelly, pot-holed roads. Also, it requires sufficient fuel. In the city we mostly walked or took public transport. If we had to drive, we would fill up at the petrol station at the end of our block. But here, the nearest station is – according to Google Maps – precisely 30.2 kilometres in the opposite direction from the corner store. Either you make a habit of keeping the tank…

SOME 60 MILLION light-years from Earth — by the estimate of one team of researchers, anyway — a pair of strange galaxies is causing a cosmic stir. The bizarre galaxies, named NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4 (or DF2 and DF4, for short), are the first known galaxies born without any significant amount of dark matter. If confirmed, their existence would throw a wrench into our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. But, as Carl Sagan liked to say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And, according to some researchers, the evidence for these dark-matter-deficient galaxies doesn’t hold up. THE CLAIM: NOTHING TO SEE HERE Astrophysicist Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University was certainly surprised when he first spotted DF2. After data from the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Hubble…

We still have to wait a year to see Ford’s full-throated response to the Ram TRX when the special F-150 Raptor R arrives with a powerful V-8. But we’re just as excited to see the latest twin-turbo V-6 Raptor that Ford unveiled recently. You’ll be able to buy it this summer with optional 37-inch tires—a production truck first. Ford needed two new frames for the Raptor lineup, both modified to accommodate the new five-link coil-sprung rear suspension, and one further revised to accommodate a 37-inch spare tire mounted under the bed. In fact, the 37s are part of a whole system, including wheels and tires, different shock hardware, and different overall tuning. The standard Raptor will come with 35-inch tires. In the past, 35s were a big step. “To get a factory-delivered…

Like Mad Men’s fictional merger of clumsily surnamed ad agencies, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot S.A. (PSA Group) have united their agglomeration of brands to produce a new corporation: Stellantis. That name would have Don Draper reaching for his Canadian Club; it’s more redolent of erectile-dysfunction ads than of anything automotive. But in a world with a hard-on for mergers and shareholders, the new company—valued at $52 billion when formed—brings the same old problems. First, what to do about stragglers such as Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia, Opel, DS, and Vauxhall. Some of these legacy brands, defenseless against nimbler rivals and electric disrupters, cannot survive. In a press conference on January 19, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares—a former rally driver and PSA chief executive—insisted that no job or brand cuts…

First, a caveat. Anyone hoping to find an array of caricatured, Goop-arific novelty features in the Montecito home that Gwyneth Paltrow shares with her husband, writer-producer Brad Falchuk, is sure to be disappointed. There’s no plant-based, toxin-leaching, zero-gravity pod, no fermenting cabana, no crystal-powered sweat lodge. There are, to be sure, myriad elements specifically designed to nurture mind, body, and soul; they just happen to be far more discreet—things like Vitruvian proportions, sacred geometries, and a host of finely crafted architectural details that together represent a nuanced interpretation of wellness by design. “The strength of the house is in the subtleties of light and space,” Paltrow says. “We spent a lot of time assessing family patterns, how we really live, what makes us most comfortable. The focus was on the experience,…

Fashion’s Big Night With the dress code calling for ‘Gilded Glamour,’ the stars got decked out for the annual gala BLAKE LIVELY & RYAN REYNOLDS As two of the event’s co-chairs, the couple nailed the theme—she in a custom Atelier Versace gown with a train meant to evoke the Statue of Liberty’s copper patina, plus custom Lorraine Schwartz jewels, and he in a custom brown velvet tuxedo by Ralph Lauren Purple Label. VANESSA HUDGENS The actress, who co-hosted Vogue’s Met Gala livestream, put a sexy spin on white-tie attire in a custom Moschino by Jeremy Scott sheer gown and Messika jewels. HAILEY BIEBER The model channeled Jerry Hall in this “simple, elegant” custom Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello dress and ostrich feather-trimmed cape. BILLIE EILISH The singer’s custom Gucci gown was inspired by a John Singer Sargent portrait and…

If there’s one thing Manila’s luxury clientele is good at, it’s knowing where to shop. Within the next few months, in-the-know buyers are bound to pivot from their usual haunts to the newly unveiled Greenbelt 3. This refresh of sorts has turned the ever-familiar establishment into a one-stop luxury destination with several major flagship stores and a handful of first-in-the-country retail concepts. “Luxury has proven to weather this unprecedented crisis in history,” says Eunice Velasco, Ayala Malls marketing director, and Mark Sablan, Ayala Malls strategic leasing unit head. “Even Manila can prove that luxury endures as customers among the luxury segment consider shopping a top recreation in the country.” Recreation or therapy, the line blurs. This 2021, familiar designers are setting up ateliers in Greenbelt 3, among which are Louis Vuitton,…

Many know the island as a whole, which includes the Republic of Ireland, as the Emerald Isle. Game of Thrones fans know Northern Ireland itself as the Iron Islands. Anyone visiting this part of the UK will discover, as I did, a lot of rugged, breathtaking beauty. After I visit a revitalised Belfast, with its excellent Titanic museum (the ill-fated vessel was built in the city’s shipyard), it is surfing that entices me to head to Northern Ireland’s north coast and to settle in the quiet beach town of Portrush. But the Antrim coast has a lot of fascinating places to explore, and I am soon boarding a local bus to nearby Giant’s Causeway, the biggest attraction in the region. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is simply fascinating. A hike up…

The winds this April morning were giving Wayne Boone’s massive 2007 semitrailer a good lashing. A driver for a paper recycling company in Virginia, US, Boone steered the empty 18-wheeler up a stretch of the highway, to pick up his first load of the day. The 53-year-old driver pulled into the eastbound left lane of the G.A. Treakle Memorial Bridge, known to locals as the I-64 High Rise, a four-lane drawbridge traversing the Elizabeth River. On the span, the storm let loose its full force, finding no obstacles in its path but vehicles, which it pummelled. Boone slowed as wind and rain hammered his windshield. At the bridge’s crest, 21 metres above the rushing estuary, the concrete road gave way to steel decking. Boone’s front wheels met the slick steel just as…

Anne was in the prime of her career — a trial lawyer working as a partner for a major law firm in Cincinnati — when she began to lose her mind. A fitness enthusiast, Anne was only 50 when she realized something was amiss. “The first thing I noticed was that my hands would begin to shake while I was sitting at my desk,” she recalls. Perplexed, she went to see a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic, who referred her for CT and MRI scans; both came back normal. She was given a diagnosis of essential tremor disorder, a progressive but not life-threatening condition. But within months, new symptoms began to appear: brain fog, memory loss, problems with reading and understanding even the simplest sentences. The work she had excelled at throughout…

She had been drifting in the cold Pacific water for a night and most of a day. Kept afloat by her orange life jacket, nine-year-old Desireé Rodriguez had watched helplessly as one family member after another let go of life. Just as she, too, began to give up, the skipper of a fishing boat spotted her bobbing in the water. Within minutes, the boat’s first officer leaped in and grabbed Desireé, pulling her back towards the boat – and life. That was 36 years ago, and the last time the rescuers and the girl saw one another. Until last year. May 18, 1986, was the kind of beautiful sunny day that regularly brought the Rodriguez family to California’s Catalina Island for some fishing on their 8.5-metre pleasure boat, the DC Too. Desireé’s father, Thomas…

Matteo Guidicelli and Sarah Geronimo-Guidicelli live life under the spotlight. Married for a little over two years, both enjoy successful individual careers that have brought them to television screens and concert halls. Matteo is an actor, entrepreneur, singer and heartthrob; Sarah is a recognised multihyphenate in the entertainment scene—her 2016 hit Tala remains incredibly popular today, among many other iconic performances. Despite their fame and fortune, the couple’s greatest passion is far more grounded: they love the natural world. For Sarah, nature means serenity, clarity and being grounded. For Matteo, it is freedom. “It reminds us that we don’t need so much to be happy,” he explains. “It’s a reminder of how blessed we are,” his wife adds. Sarah is continuously learning about nature and actively seeking ways to help spread the…

GOING GAGA FOR GUCCI London, Nov. 9 All eyes were on Lady Gaga at the U.K. premiere of House of Gucci, where she rocked a head-turning purple cape dress (fresh off the Gucci runway) and posed with costar Adam Driver. Gaga has already garnered Oscar buzz for her portrayal of Maurizio Gucci’s wife, Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill the fashion heir. (For the real-life story, see page 66.) COUNTRY’S BIGGEST NIGHT Nashville, Nov. 10 LATE NIGHT GETS SEXY New York City, Nov. 9 Paul Rudd celebrated his new title of People’s Sexiest Man Alive with a hug from Stephen Colbert, who announced the news with a sketch on The Late Show. REEL LOVE Los Angeles, Nov. 14 Serena Williams and husband Alexis Ohanian brought daughter Olympia, 4, to the premiere of King Richard,…

For Prince William and Princess Kate, the morning of March 11 unfolded like so many days filled with royal engagements that had come before: thanking teachers at a public school in east London, cheering on children and launching the latest stage of Mentally Healthy Schools, one of Kate’s key initiatives. But the carefully organized event came to a dramatic halt when, for a few seconds, William stopped to address the subject that had been making headlines around the world: the interview his brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, gave to Oprah Winfrey four days earlier. Echoing the most incendiary claim made by the couple, a reporter shouted at William, “Is the royal family a racist family, sir?” The future King—who rarely answers off-the-cuff questions, let alone…

Elisabeth Krohn did not want to change anything at her recently acquired flat in Regent’s Park in London. Her brief to designer Ben Pentreath was that he should work with what was already in place. Namely, the Versailles-style neoclassical interior architecture, all good quality and which had been commissioned in the 1990s by Francophile residents. “She told us, ‘I don’t want to rip it all out.’ That had my full respect,” Pentreath explains. Still, he was not a fan of the striving envelope—“I kept my trap shut”—finding the atmosphere fussy and, in the case of the kitchen molding, “a bit busy.” The effect was too formal, in his mind, for the 30-something Krohn, a fashion journalist who is the founder, editor in chief, and creative director of Sabat, an award-winning…

Bruce Willis, his wife, Emma, and their daughters Mabel and Evelyn, 7, gathered with a small group of friends and family on April 1 for a very special celebration: Mabel’s 10th birthday. “Dream BIG, keep reaching for the stars and remember to live it up!” Emma wrote on Instagram, using her husband’s seize-the-day mantra. The party marked both Mabel’s milestone birthday and an opportunity for the family to come together in joy. “Emma is especially grateful for the daughters she shares with Bruce,” says a source close to her. “Everyone is focused on all the happy moments they are able to share.” Such moments are now more precious than ever. Just two days earlier Willis’s family announced the news that the superstar, 67, is retiring from his blockbuster acting career. The…

For more than five years, the sunny community of Redding, Calif., has held its collective breath, anxious about safety, concerned violent criminals were at large, maybe still living among them. After all, it was there that Sherri Papini, a 34-year-old mother of two, vanished without a trace on Nov. 2, 2016, while on a mid-morning jog. Even the joy and relief that her Thanksgiving Day return brought was clouded by Sherri’s shocking story of her kidnapping—two Hispanic women took her at gunpoint and kept her chained in a bedroom for 22 harrowing days. “I was warned that it’s not safe for women to run by themselves,” says Sarah Bank, who moved to Redding around the time of Sherri’s case. “You just don’t know what’s out there.” Now, police say, there was never…

It started out as a straightforward idea to build a new playground in Kampala, Uganda. And then architect Francis Kéré got involved. Completed this past summer, with an official inauguration on October 14, the project has grown to include open-air areas for gathering, multipurpose rooms for workshops and night classes, a small gym, an internet café, a music studio, restrooms, and a multisport pitch. Nestled in the heart of Kamwokya, a poor urban district on the margins of the city, the site is a pocket of public space carved from a thicket of dilapidated houses and zigzagging alleys. Kéré, who is based in Berlin and was awarded the Pritzker Prize for architecture this year, has a preternatural sense for the pulse of communities. Growing up in the remote village of Gando…

Can scandal be hereditary? Ghislaine Maxwell’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein made her a household name, but her ongoing legal woes didn’t mark the first time her family had endured the glare of the spotlight. When Ghislaine’s father Robert Maxwell died in 1991, the official cause of death was a heart attack—but not everyone was convinced. Rumors swirled that the larger-than-life newspaper baron, whose body had been found near the Canary Islands (he was presumed to have fallen off his yacht), had committed suicide in the face of financial ruin or been assassinated by some shadowy intelligence agency. And was it really any wonder? Throughout his life, Maxwell worked tirelessly to obscure the truth about himself. He changed his name, denied his religion, and played shell games with vast fortunes, all in an…

With his Presidency just seven and a half days old, Joe Biden had already put his signature to 37 executive orders—on everything from the COVID-19 pandemic to the climate crisis to transgender rights—when he strode into the White House Blue Room practically vibrating with the urgency of all he plans to do. “How long is this going to take?” he asked. “I need to get back to the Oval.” Only when Biden, 78, sat down beside his wife, Jill, did he seem to exhale, taking a pause from the nation’s crises to get misty-eyed about his grandchildren and his “surreal” return to a building he frequented over the course of his 44 years in public office—first as a U.S. senator from Delaware, then as President Barack Obama’s Vice President—but now…

IN THE EARLY 1960S, THE MODERNIST MASTER Paul Rudolph, dean of Yale’s School of Architecture (and designer of its famed Brutalist home), rented a small pied-à-terre in an 1867 townhouse on Manhattan’s Beekman Place. In 1976, after the real estate market cratered, he was able to buy up the whole four-story structure, which backs up on the East River. He set about remaking it into his home and studio, a monument to a profoundly idiosyncratic vision. While Rudolph left the elegant facade intact after dressing up the rental units, at the top he cantilevered what may be the most eye-catching addition to any 19th-century building in the city: a jagged multilevel aerie that hangs out over the staid residential enclave. With Plexiglas floors, reflective steel beams, glass walls, and six terraces,…

‘ASHLEY HAD BIG BALLET DREAMS AND WOULD STEP ON ANYONE TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN’—FRIEND DANI EVERETTE The hotel staff was starting to clean up the ballroom after a 2016 political fundraiser in Sarasota, Fla., when Ashley Byers and Dani Everette began chatting about what they wanted in a life partner. “She said she was trying to network with men who could help her start her own ballet company,” remembers Dani, 30, a friend and business consultant. “I told her that I was looking for a man who was tall, dark and handsome, and she just smiled and said, ‘I don’t care about that. All I need is someone rich.’” Several months later at yet another political fundraiser, this one at the Palm Beach mansion of former Presidential candidate Ben Carson, Ashley,…

With weary, watery eyes, King Charles III faced Prince William and Prince Harry across the stone aisle of St. George’s Chapel on Sept. 19. Together, they were father and sons watching in somber silence, broken only by the lament of a lone bagpiper, as the coffin of their beloved mother and “Grannie” was lowered into the Royal Vault, beneath the chapel nave. Together but also apart. “When families have a falling-out, you long for them to hug one another,” royal biographer Penny Junor says of the distance between the brothers—some dictated by protocol, some by enduring personal pain. “It broke my heart.” For all the fairy-tale trappings of the grand global farewell to Queen Elizabeth II—thousands of members of the British Armed Forces marching in precision, hundreds of world leaders gathered…

I can count a dozen friends, all in their 50s, who inexplicably reacted to the global pandemic by adopting a puppy. Actually, I did, too. Last year, paralysed in the house, afraid to leave without donning a hazmat suit, I was suddenly consumed by the urgent desire to acquire a seven-week-old Australian shepherd. This craving will no doubt be the subject of a future study on irrational pandemic behaviour. For one thing, this breed is one of the most energetic on the planet, whereas I am bookish, lazy and middle-aged. And I had taken this route before – with mixed results. My trouble with dogs is that I never have the remotest clue what they want, and they never seem to have the slightest inkling what I’m saying to them. This domestic impasse…

When it comes to off-roading, Jeep sets the standard, especially at reasonable price levels. Other brands offer all-wheel drive, and a few of them build a seriously capable off-roader or two if you’re willing to pay, but no one builds a trail-ready model in every SUV segment like Jeep does. And if you want to keep the price less than $40,000 and still get serious off-road performance, Jeep is the only game in town. Or was. The Ford Bronco Sport Badlands is finally here to crash the trail party. And in the battle for budget off-road supremacy, it most directly challenges the Jeep Compass Trailhawk. The Contenders Jeep’s insistence on covering every bit of SUV-market white space made us think hard about which model to invite to this comparison. The Renegade is only…

Cars are becoming a niche commodity. Once the dominant form of family transportation, the “car” as we once knew it now toes the endangered segment list. Just 11 years ago we enjoyed our biggest MotorTrend Car of the Year field ever, at 35 entrants—triple the number of SUV contestants that year. Four years later, new SUVs outnumbered cars (by one), and now for 2023 they more than doubled our COTY field. And as cars get rarer, they’re also becoming rarified. The few remaining producers of mainstream econoboxes, compacts, and midsize sedans fielded no newcomers this year. In their place was a roster of mostly sporty or luxurious contestants. Among them, one outshone its own competitive set to a degree we don’t always see in our Of The Year contests: the…

For years, executives at Virgin Galactic said the company’s founder, 70-year-old Richard Branson, on his own test flight before it could provide rides to paying customers. On July 11, Branson flew to the edge of space, in a trip conspicuously timed to take place just before a similar voyage planned for Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos. Branson and Bezos see their flights as the start of a new stage in commercial space travel. But Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. has been a pioneer for the space industry in other ways, too. In 2019 the company went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, whose shares were already trading on public markets. The then-obscure tool that has since become a popular way for risky companies to go public before…

Rule number one: Neutrals are always the safest choice when it comes to color schemes. Rule number two: Antiques have no place in 21st-century life. Rule number three: Fine fabrics should never be deployed in a house with children, however well behaved. Rule number four: Traditional elegance has nothing to do with the way we live now. But tell all that to real estate executive Samantha Rudin Earls and her husband, David Earls, cofounder of a private investment firm as well as Subject Matter, an organization that helps fund documentary films focused on social issues, and you’ll just get furrowed brows. Given the soigné good looks of their West Village town house, the effervescent young couple clearly did not get their generation’s denialist style memo. “I love old black-and-white movies and…

STARS’ BEST FRIENDS COZY COUPLE New York City, Jan. 10 Katie Holmes and boyfriend Emilio Vitolo Jr. kept close during a chilly walk. A COUNTRY STAR (AND HOLLYWOOD LEGACY) SAYS ‘I DO’ Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., Jan. 9 After a two-week engagement Jennifer Wayne of the country trio Runaway June married singer-songwriter Austin Moody, 29. “We couldn’t wait a second longer,” the bride, 38, says of their small ceremony on the sand. For her “something borrowed,” Wayne wore a vintage engagement ring—her grandmother Pilar Pallete’s from her grandfather, late film icon John Wayne—for the oceanfront vows. “I got to marry my favorite person in the world,” Wayne added. “My forever now.” J.LO’S FUN IN THE SUN Turks & Caicos, Jan. 6 Jennifer Lopez wore a a cheeky black swimsuit to go paddleboarding during a family vacation. GOTTA JET! Barbados, Jan. 10 Simon…