Von Trier declined to wait for her to honour other filming commitments elsewhere, and recast the role. Two months later it emerged that “scheduling problems” would prevent her from appearing Had she wangled her way out of the deal? It seems not. But this loyalty is not always reciprocated.At the press conference following Dogville’s [...]

The focus here was on 16-to-19 year olds who leave school with no formal qualifications at all, he said. This might lower the 6.4 per cent local unemployment rate.Manchester City Council, which has considered Harpurhey to be one of its priority regeneration needs for several years, accepts that its challenge is to stop locals [...]

As usual, it was a case of “hurry up and wait”.As it was a hot day, I retired to a coil of rope, put my back against it and fell asleep. When I awoke, the place was deserted, except for a few ever-present military police. After a moment of panic, I realised that everyone [...]

I was put in an ambulance and taken to a field hospital and from there transferred to a hospital in Paris. I managed to escape from the hospital with the help of the French Resistance.When the city was liberated, they contacted an American liaison officer with the Free French division and I was taken [...]

What if you or I were not eating our breakfast in bed or reading the newspaper on the sofa this morning but back in the Channel early on this day in 1944? Sick from the sea and the fear, numb and dizzy with adrenalin as the landing craft lurches against the sand. Soaked, lashed [...]

Objective: advance inland and join troops from British beaches.07.00 German radio broadcasts first report of landing.07.05 Carnage continues on Omaha. US troops pinned down and face 200-yard sprint across open sand. Objective: to capture Cotentin Peninsula and port of Cherbourg. Limited defences, quick progress.- On Omaha, only gap in 100ft-high cliffs between Utah and [...]

That isn’t happening any more,” said one official.Mr Hain is said to be keen to investigate the use the Kerry campaign has made of the internet as well as reporting back on techniques employed by the Bush campaign that are likely to be aped by the Tories.The cabinet minister will stop short of publicly [...]

It was important to stick within the confines of that white tape. One guy went over the line and bang!, he went over a shell.For want of a better word, it was exciting It wasn’t depressing, put it that way. I was the beach-master’s bodyguard, and the two of us ran forwards up to [...]

I know how lucky I am,” she says.Ben and Zac Goldsmith, sons of the billionaire philanthropist and businessman Sir James, have thrown their not inconsiderable wealth behind environmental campaigns.Ben helped to unite two wealthy dynasties last year when he married Kate Rothschild in Bury St Edmunds (between them they are worth around £300m). Richard [...]

The most successful product design often comes from this kind of off-the-wall thinking.The approach has pitfalls, however. The endless sports analogies in the US have perpetutaed a clubbish atmosphere at the top of business which often excludes those who aren’t white, male or into baseball. But psychologists have found that far analogies lead to [...]